The Darkness of Dreams
by mydaysrgreen
Summary: Evelyn, an employee of Wayne Enterprises, inadvertently unearths a secret her employer has been trying to keep, but before she can get to the bottom of it, she has new evolutions of her own that she will need to keep buried if she wants a normal life.
1. Just Another Day

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters.

Chapter 1 – Just Another Day

_Honk! Honk!_

Evelyn woke up to the maddening symphony of cars honking, jackhammers drilling, among various other noises that could substitute for alarm clocks. Not being able to either fully wake up or fall back asleep, she laid in her bed and under her covers while watching rays of natural light brightening the color of her window curtains.

While each morning brought a new day of endless possibilities, each day became more and more mundane. Life in the big city was not as stimulating as she had once dreamed while packing her bags from her Floridian home and flew five hours north to Gotham. Her 8-to-5 engineering job at Wayne Enterprises and nightly appointments with primetime television serials weren't living up to her expectations of exhilarating days and jovial nightlife. But life went on anyway. Not that Evelyn's personal life was devoid of friendships or its own type of excitement, just not the kind she was hoping for. She wanted to be able to experience new things each day: helping people, meeting new people maybe even a man who could bring new insight into her life, alas it was all yet to come.

She finally got the energy to remove the covers off of her body, and get out of bed. Before walking towards her bathroom, she stretched to awaken her limbs from luxurious slumber. Even if she didn't have the exhilaration she desired, she was grateful for the things she did have. Considering the drastic emotional oscillations that had taken place in her life, she should be grateful for the way her life had turned out. She had a job, an amiable friend and roommate, and a stable life.

Looking at her reflection staring back at her, she noticed bags under her eyes. The overtime hours she spent at Wayne Enterprises were finally getting to her. Oh, yet another gray hair! Those began showing up during her early college years. Evelyn was a 26 year old MIT alumnus who was currently working under Lucius Fox at Wayne Enterprises. And speaking of work, it was 7:48am, and she had to hurry if she wanted to be on time. She quickly showered, straightened her hair and wore her white shirt and pencil skirt with black stiletto pumps.

On her way out of the apartment, she ran into Rachel eating breakfast while reviewing her deposition. Being the up and coming _honest_ district attorney, she had a lot hanging over her head, but she was dedicated.

"I'll see you later tonight, okay," Evelyn said as their usual morning hello and goodbye.

Rachel nodded and said, "Yea, it's gonna be a late night again."

"Call me if you need me for any reason. I get worried whenever you use the monorail. It's so dangerous, there are muggings every night."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." She said with a smile and quickly went back to her deposition.

"Be careful. Bye" Evelyn finally said and walked out of apartment. As she walked out of the building and onto the sidewalk, she merged among the other nameless and faceless figures dressed in black going on with their daily lives. She became indistinguishable.


	2. On With Work

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters.

Chapter 2 – On With Work

While life went on in Gotham, a blanket of darkness began to cover the city. The sun was suddenly clouded, turning the day into night. The stars became visible and lights around the city flashed on, providing pathways to vehicles as well as people. But the crowd instantly came to an abrupt stop, all eyes observing the night sky trying to find an explanation in the layer of stars. Soon all of the lights completely gave out, leaving everyone in complete darkness. Evelyn felt a shock go through her body and before she could understand what had happened, the city lights came back and the sky cleared revealing the sun again. With daylight back, everyone kept looking towards the sky and then to one another but only received a shrug from the stranger standing next to them. Minutes later, everyone began walking again, going on with their lives as if nothing happened.

Evelyn, still getting over the shock, reached for her cell phone in her purse and dialed Rachel's cell. After two rings, Rachel picked up, "Hello."

"Hey! Did you see that? Did the lights go out in the apartment? Oh my god, everything was pitch black out here. Everyone stopped and I got electrocuted, at least it felt like an electrocution. Did anything happen to you?..."

"Evelyn! Evelyn! Calm down. Yes the lights went out and are you ok? What do you mean by electrocuted?"

"I felt a shock going through my body, but I'm fine now."

"Ok good. I have no idea why that happened but I'll try and find something out at work. I have to go, I'm running late. If you still fell strange, go to the hospital just in case."  
"Ok, I'll try to. Be safe. Bye."

With the last remarks, Evelyn hung up.

Her body was still trembling.

_Maybe I should go to the hospital._

She stopped by the emergency room on the way to work at Grady Hospital. But as soon as she entered, she saw the room was filled with injured people.

_Must be the results from the blackout._ _This will take forever._

She turned around to leave, and almost ran into a stretcher being rushed through the doors. She moved aside and heard an EMT say, "MVA victim, 26, female. Fractured fibula, internal bleeding…." The farther they went into the hospital, the voice became inaudible over the moans and groans of people in the waiting area. Seeing the number of helpless people and the shortage of doctors running from one end to another screaming the conditions of several patients while trying so hard to save lives was overwhelming her. She had to leave.

The fresh air outside revitalized her , and she again began to make her way to Wayne Enterprise. Fifteen minutes later she entered the building and flashed her badge at the Security Officer while mouthing a hello. He nodded and motioned her over to the elevators.

As she walked towards the elevators, she noticed the lack of people. Was there a meeting? She stepped into the elevator and looked at her watch, 8:52am. She should have been at work at 8:20am, but the excuse was viable.

_Hi Mr. Fox, I would've been on time as usual but there was a little blackout._

Fox was a considerate man, he wouldn't say anything in the first place. While getting off on the 37th floor, she saw Alice, the secretary on the floor but didn't see anyone else.

"Hi Alice, where is everyone?" Evelyn asked cruriously.

Alice smiled back. "I don't know, no one but Mr. Fox is here. Maybe the blackout affected more people worse than I thought."

"Yea, I saw a lot of people in the emergency room afterwards at Grady."

Before Alice could question Evelyn as to why she was at the emergency room, and if she was ok, both women heard a deep voice ask, "Emergency room? Are you alright Evelyn?"  
Evelyn turned and smiled when she noticed Fox had come up behind her. "Hi Mr. Fox, yes I'm fine. I was just a little lightheaded after the blackout and decided to stop by since it was on the way. That's why I'm late by the way." She started getting nervous because she was lying through her teeth.

"Evelyn, its okay. You don't have to tell me why you went, just as long as you're okay, because I have a lot of work for you today since I'm not expecting a lot of people to show up today." Fox replied. "Oh and for the last time, call me Lucius. You make me feel older than I am, when you call me Mr. Fox."

"Yes, Mr. Fox. I mean Lucius." She paused, and while supporting an uncomfortable countenance, she continued, "It's gonna take a little getting used to."

Fox laughed and said, "Alright let me show you what you need to work on today." He turned and began to walk away from Alice's desk. Evelyn nodded bye to Alice and quickly followed behind him.


	3. Meeting Bruce Wayne

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters.

Chapter 3 – Meeting Mr. Wayne

"Today I'm going to need you to go down to the basement where the prototypes are located and bring some things back up here and later take them up to Mr. Wayne's office…"

At the mention of Wayne, Evelyn froze. "Mr. Wayne's office?"

"Yes, I usually get someone else to do that but seeing as we're short today, I would like you to do it. The prototype that you need to get are very important and I need to make sure they get to him safe and sound, but if you don't want to…"

Evelyn quickly broke him off, "I'll do it. I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly. So I'm finally going to be meeting him, well unless I just need to drop it off with his secretary."

"No, make sure he gets it. He needs to give those to someone else to get certain projects moving and we can't have anything misplaced."  
Evelyn nodded and continued listening to Fox explain the items she needed to bring up. Apparently, the items were already boxed and she only needed to record them and transport them.

After she had gotten the list, she headed for the basement. It was dark and quite, until she turned on the lights and found a vast collection of prototypes that looked nothing like she had seen before. Fox had told her that most things were made for military use but the military didn't see that spending the amount of money these things cost would be worth protecting their soldiers' lives. She headed for the desk with the cardboard boxes which had been labeled as: _Item 1, Item 2 _and _Item 3 _along with each of their project IDsFox had said that Wayne only needed the first item for right now. After making sure the ID was right by comparing the one on the list, she took the first one in hand and was surprised at how light it was. She was worried she wouldn't be able to take them up without assistance. When she turned to go back, she noticed a large vehicle. It was hidden in the back and was covered with black cloth. A little afraid but mostly curious, she uncovered the object. It had a camouflage print, and was shaped oddly. Obviously this was for the military as Fox had said, but this looked familiar. Evelyn walked towards it with curiosity and kept analyzing every detail and curve of the vehicle. Then it clicked, it was the same type of vehicle that Batman drove, only his was black. She couldn't be mistaken, it was exactly the same. This didn't make any sense. What was Wayne Enterprise doing with a vehicle exactly like Batman's? Well it didn't take a genius to figure out that this place had aided Batman, but why? How would they get involved with him in the first place? Unless someone knew him, someone in high power, someone who would be able to give him this vehicle but with adjustments of his preference. Who? It could be Fox, since he was head of all of this before he was promoted into Mr. Earle's position, but how would Fox know Batman? And giving something away like this without being caught would be almost impossible, so someone above him had to be in on it also. Evelyn was letting her curiosity get the best of her, so she quickly turned and decided to finally leave. She of course had decided not to let it go, she would pursue it with subtlety until she knew the answers to her questions.

When she reached the 45th floor, she saw only a secretary's desk and a door across from it. The secretary had bleach blond hair, and was beautiful. She had heard everything about Bruce Wayne, his womanizing habits, his interests in partying and his long list of girlfriends which mostly consisted of models, celebrities and overall gorgeous women. But she didn't know he liked to keep gorgeous women at work, she didn't want to be judgmental but she couldn't help but dislike him at the moment. She looked at the nametag, Molly.

"Hi, Molly. I'm here to deliver this package to Bruce Wayne. I have to see that this gets to him personally. Is he in?"  
She quickly replied, "Let me check. What's your name?"

"Oh, Evelyn Knight. I work for Lucius Fox."

She got on the phone and told Wayne who was here and what for. A couple of uh-huhs and mm-hmms later Molly said, "You can go in."  
Evelyn smiled, "Thanks."  
As she walked towards the door, she couldn't help but feel nervous. This was the first time she would be meeting him alone. He was a good looking man, who apparently had the charisma to charm as many women as he had. How could she not be nervous? But this was work, she had to be confident. She opened the door with one hand and walked into the office.


	4. Foolish Thoughts

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters.

**Read and Review !!!!**

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Chapter 4 – Foolish Thoughts

She was in a vast office with bookshelves and a desk a few feet directly ahead of her. She saw a man with dark brown hair, neatly combed back, working at his desk. She couldn't see his face clearly since he was looking down but she could tell he was concentrating and probably didn't realize that she had stepped closer towards his desk. She was a couple steps away from him, when he finally looked up and smiled.

"Hi, Mr. Fox sent you up here?"

"Yes, he told me to give this to you personally." She handed the box to him and he took it gratefully.

"Thank you for making that trip all the way up here to give me this."

"It's no problem really." Evelyn smiled back, hoping he didn't realize how shy she was at the moment.

"I don't think we've met before. Bruce Wayne."

"Oh good, otherwise I could've been fired for giving this to the wrong person." She said sarcastically and Bruce smiled in response. "I'm Evelyn Knight, I joined about 5 months ago."

"How has Mr. Fox been treating you, not too harshly I hope?"

"No he's been great, possibly the best one I've had since I started working. Very knowledgeable and considerate."

"He's a great guy and I'm sure you're great at what you do too." He said with a grin and looking back at his papers he said, "I wish we could talk more but I have to get back to attending these project verifications. It was a pleasure meeting you Ms. Knight."

"It was great to finally meet you too Mr. Wayne."

They shook hands and she turned to leave. She just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible without giving more time to the possibility of embarrassing herself in any way. The meeting went well and she didn't want to mess it up with anything. On her way out she turned a little to her right to close the door, and she saw him still looking at her. When she noticed, she blushed a little and shut the door.

As she walked out, she kept going over everything in her head making sure she didn't do anything "stupid" and kept thinking about how good looking he was up close. She had not realized how deep in thought she was until she reached the door to Fox's office. She shook her head trying so hard to get those thoughts out of her.

_He's my boss. I can't…shouldn't think of him like that. _

"Were you able to get the prototype to him successfully?" Fox suddenly asked appearing in front of her.

It took a little longer than it should have to process what was happening. "Oh, yea…yes. I gave it to him." Evelyn smiled, hoping Fox wouldn't see right through her.

He smiled, "Happens to every woman that meets him."

Evelyn was caught off guard, "What happens? I don't know what you're talking about _Lucius._" She stressed his first name in order to make him terminate his thoughts before the conversation led down a path she clearly did not want to go with her boss. Luckily he got the message and continued on to other tasks he had laid out for her to complete before the end of the day.

Her day went by faster than usual, most probably because she could not stop thinking about Bruce. She was pleased she could still walk back to her apartment since it was light out at 5:30pm. As she was leaving the building, arbitrary questions and thoughts would not escape her mind; questions she had not asked herself about a man in quite some time. If anyone could read her thoughts, they would think she was a little schoolgirl gushing over a cute guy with whom she had had a two second conversation.

_Will I see him again any time soon?_

_I hope I wasn't too transparent when I talked to him, at least my voice didn't crack when I spoke; god knows that's happened before._

_What did he think of me? _

_I wish I could've stayed longer. _

_Why did he keep looking at me when I was leaving?_

_Did that mean something?... Yea right, he has models and celebrities pursuing him. He would never have a "thing" for just an everyday schoolgirl-with-a-crush. _

Evelyn convinced herself she wouldn't have those thoughts again, she wouldn't tolerate it. Although she was in the need of closure that only a man could provide, she did not want to get involved with her boss even if there was attraction from his side.

As the clock struck seven o'clock, Evelyn sat in her living room that had a contemporary essence, decorate lightly with her and Rachel's personal belongings. The paintings were part of Evelyn's appreciation for art, while the foreign artifacts were part of Rachel's various trips abroad while in college. As she admired the peace that surrounded her in that moment, her attention was drawn to the window in front of her that revealed city lights illuminating every corner of the vast metropolis. Suddenly Evelyn heard footsteps coming closer, getting louder by the second. It was quickly joined by the chatter of two people who were conversing something incomprehensible. It sounded like a female's and a male's voices. As the progressions of the steps desist, she heard someone unlocking her apartment door.

_It's probably Rachel with someone from work. _

The door opened and she could see Rachel's reflection in the window. Evelyn turned to welcome Rachel when she noticed the man who had walked in behind her. It was Bruce.

_Oh my god! What is he doing here? And why did I have to change into my pajamas this early? Geez! So much for any sign of attraction from Bruce. This would completely turn him away. _

"Evelyn?" Rachel said, snapping Evelyn from her thoughts of her world crumbling down.

"Oh hey. You're early," Evelyn said trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Actually I still have a lot of work to do, and I needed to give Bruce something," she paused for a moment, "oh have you guys met? Bruce this is my friend Evelyn and Evelyn I think you know who Bruce is."

Evelyn finally stood up, seeing as she had no way of shrinking away unnoticed any longer. She stood up to reveal her lavender spaghetti strap tank top, and white pajamas with miniscule lavender flower petals. She felt a little exposed, for him to see her in her sleepwear was getting a little too personal too soon.

"I can't find it here." Rachel said while looking through a stack of papers she had on a table near the sofa. "I'm gonna go look in my room, it has to be here somewhere."

With that she headed to right of us, past the kitchen and living room, and into the small hallway that had a bathroom, my room and her room.

"I didn't think I'd see you again." Bruce said breaking the silence between them.

Evelyn looked at Bruce with a quizzical look, _He wanted to see me again??_

"I mean in the same day," he suddenly added trying to remove the discomfort caused by his first comment. Evelyn kept looking away, for some reason she couldn't look him in the eyes without shying away.

"Yea," Evelyn added quietly. "Rachel told me you both grew up together."

"Oh yea, we've known each other since before we were eight years old."

The conversation ended abruptly, and before any of them could attempt to continue on, Rachel walked out of her room holding up a file.

"I found it. We can go now Bruce."

"It was nice seeing you again Evelyn. I'll see you around at the office." Bruce said finally ending their rendezvous.

A little disappointed, Evelyn said goodbye to both of them and watched them walk out of the apartment one after the other. She still couldn't believe Bruce Wayne was in her apartment and all she could do say was one meager sentence.

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**Author's Note: **Please **review** if you want updates. Believe the next chapter I'm planning to write is much much more interesting. You finally get a glimpse of Evelyn's secret!! 


	5. Sorrowful Dream

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize.

**Read & Review!!!**

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_Chapter 5 - Sorrowful Dream_

Thwarted and exhausted, Evelyn headed for bed around eleven o'clock. Meeting Bruce Wayne twice in one day overwhelmed her more than she expected. As her eye lids closed and her world filled with darkness, she fell into bottomless slumber while the thoughts of Bruce lay in her subconscious.

Evelyn stood companionless. Her vision was opaque almost like a fog preventing her from seeing her surroundings clearly. Afraid of making a wrong step, she stood prone, but began to think of a way to leave or better yet wake up because as eventless as it was, the chance of something horrible occurring soon was great. Before she could make a move, the fog began to clear. Evelyn saw that she stood in the center of a dark alley along with dumpsters and stray cats, while in her pajamas. After walking around to soak in the environment and seeing no one, she got even more anxious. She felt the wind blowing cold, damp air sending shivers through her body.

Two minutes that felt like hours passed by when she suddenly heard a door open behind her. Evelyn quickly turned to see a man and a woman, both of middle age status, along with a little boy possibly the age of seven or eight walking out of the building to her right. By the looks of their clothes and stature, they seemed like an upper class family. She promptly observed the similarities between the father and son, both has similar dark brown hair as well as facial features, while the mother stood out with her radiant blond hair. As they began walking towards Evelyn, the father continued saying something inaudible to his son, but Evelyn realized they did not take notice of her. It was as if she did not exist. When they reached her side, Evelyn's attention was grabbed by a figure moving behind the family which worried her, but before she could do anything, a homeless man came up to the family and pointed a gun with a trembling hand. She turned to see what he wanted, but she couldn't hear much except mumbles. Obviously the man was asking for money, and the father placed himself before the gun trying to protect his family.

Evelyn felt a sudden jolt of terror, but she did not know them. She didn't know them yet she felt she should shield them from harm. She didn't know them but she feared for their lives. The homeless man shifted towards the mother, and in a split second, gun shots were fired. First the father then the mother, both fell to the ground bleeding. The homeless man already out of sight, the young boy kneeled next to his father's dying body and cried. Evelyn felt unimaginable grief, as if it were her own parents who had died in front of her eyes. The boy was shedding tears, while tears of sorrow also flowed from Evelyn's eyes. She remained quiet trying to understand what had happened and why, why had she lost the two most important people to her in the world.

White fog began to form again in front of her eyes, softly erasing the little boy from her sight. She heard something behind her again, the figure!

_Is it still here? Who is it?_

She stood up slowly, a little anxious, and turned while wiping tears from her eyes. When she wiped the last tear away, she opened her eyes to see Bruce Wayne standing before her looking as petrified as she was. Before he or she could say anything, everything finally faded away and she woke up.

Evelyn jolted out of bed, with pearls of sweat forming on her forehead. She wiped her eyes and forehead before covering her face with the palm of her hands. Still shaking herself out of her stupor, she couldn't eradicate the feeling of misery. Shes sat in her bed thinking, analyzing every moment of the dream. Why did she dream that? It was as if all of it was real, as if it was history repeating itself in her dreams. Why was Bruce Wayne there? He looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him, but she could also see the pain that was in his eyes. As if they were feeling the same terror and abandonment. Hours later, knowing that she was too shaken up to fall back asleep soon, she decided to take a sleeping pill. Evelyn opened the second drawer in the nightstand next to her bed, and pulled out a full bottle of sleeping pills. Seeing that there was no water, she walked to the kitchen softly not wanting to disturb Rachel.

On the way back to her room, she felt a cool breeze flow out from underneath Rachel's door. Evelyn didn't think anything of it, and walked into her room seeing the silhouette of her bed. Before she could lie back down underneath her warm covers, she heard voices. The walls of her apartment were paper thin, and it was probably Rachel doing work. Not wanting to deprive herself of sleep any longer, she ignored it and lied down. Trying hard to block out the voices, she pulled the covers over her head. Minutes later, the voices did not desist. Finally, Evelyn got out of bed and decided to see who Rachel was talking to. When she reached for the door knob, she realized the voices were not from Rachel's room but outside. She quickly walked to her window, and opened it slightly trying not to make noise. She heard Rachel's voice but the other voice she couldn't recognize. It sounded harsh and deep. She protruted her head a little out of her window to get a glimpse of who it was, when she saw a tall black figure standing on the edge of the fire escape stairs at the end of the building, next to Rachel's window. Seeing a cape flowing with the wind, Evelyn rubbed her eyes to ensure she wasn't seeing things.

_Batman??__Talking to Rachel in the middle of the night, how did she know him? _

Nothing seemed to make sense, it was as if Batman had relations to everyone she knew.

_What is he doing here?_

Leaning a little farther, the voices became comprehensible.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"Rachel, don't you think it's a little late for that question?"

_First name basis, huh?_

"Whats wrong? You seem a little shaken up."

"Nothing...couldn't sleep."

"Bad dream?"

Batman nodded. "Saw everything I've been trying to forget all these years." _  
_

"Bruce…."

_Bruce?!?!? What?! _ Her heart started to beat faster.

Rachel continued, "I care for you. You go gallivanting in the night trying to save this city one criminal at a time. Don't you ever think about saving you from yourself?"

After a pause, his voice more compassionate, he said, "You were right…when you said that Bruce Wayne is my mask, not Batman. This is me, Rachel. This is all I'm ever going to be." With that he flew off of the stairs into the dark night, with Rachel looking on from her window.

_I was right? Bruce Wayne is Batman? _

Her boss, the man everyone believed to be a lavish playboy, the man she had come to adore was batman, The Batman! This was too much for Evelyn to administer especially at 3:56am. She stumbled back into her bed and drew the covers over her body. The realization, that everyone around her somehow knew Batman, besieged her back to sleep. Completely forgetting her dream earlier, she fell back into the world that she had jolted out of with fear and panic.

Dreams are said to be a world created by the dreamer for oneself. But Evelyn dreamt not of a world of her own, but in her dream, she entered the world of another and was immersed so deeply within it that she could no longer distinguish her life from the stranger's.

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**Author's Note:** Thank you for reviews and continue to review to get updates. How was this chapter? 

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	6. Trying to Make Sense

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize.

**Read & Review!!!**

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_Chapter 6 – Trying to Make Sense_

The next morning was synonymous to the morning before, with traffic noises reaching her ears, breaking her out of sleep. Although there were several memorable events the night before, Evelyn woke up refreshed as if she didn't remember anything.

After she got dressed, she headed for the kitchen and took out cereal and milk, pouring both into a bowl. Knowing that Rachel must have left for work early, she sat alone on the living room sofa and switched on to the news, maybe she could get more information about the blackout, instead she found coverage on Batman sightings. Suddenly everything hit her all at once: the dream, the deaths, seeing Bruce and unveiling Batman's true identity. Her sleep was so deep that she couldn't distinguish what was part of her dream and what was real.

_Was Batman actually here?_

_Was he Bruce Wayne, or was it all part of the horrible dream? _

She carelessly put down the untouched bowl of cereal on the coffee table, and headed off to work.

"Wow, you're early today? An important meeting with Mr. Wayne?" Alice was surprised to see Evelyn earlier than usual.

"No, just wanted to catch up on some work." Evelyn lied.

She rushed to her desk strictly for her computer access. She researched everything she could find on Bruce's background. Articles, tabloids, gossip, everything was useless until she came upon an article regarding Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne's deaths.

_Joe Chill? _

She clicked on the link, and read about the details of their death, as well as the culprit's parole hearing.

_Everything was real, gunned down by a homeless man in a dark alley in the middle of the night._

She kept reading how Bruce had come back for the hearing, but instead of saying anything during the trial, he left, later only to see Chill murdered in front of him. Afterwards, he disappeared for seven years. She remembered reading articles a couple of years ago on Wayne Enterprises being taken over by Bruce Wayne, and how she had laughed when people said he had come back from the dead.

_That boy was Bruce, that man was Joe Chill. That's why I saw him, right before I woke up. But everything felt so real, as if Bruce was also dreaming the same thing. He did say he had a bad dream, as if he saw everything he had been trying to forget. _

Besides the eeriness of the dream, she was realizing how she now sympathized with Bruce. Everything he had felt during the horrific event, she had felt last night. Evelyn respected him beyond anyone else, now knowing that he willingly risked his life to save others, as Batman.

"Good morning, Evelyn. You're early." Fox said standing behind her computer.

"Yea, thought I'd get an early start today, finish up some work from before." Evelyn said while deleting every article she had pulled during the last hour.

"Oh good, well you can start by getting the other prototypes to Mr. Wayne. I think those are all he needs for right now." Fox said, and turned to leave.

"Ok." Evelyn said while leaving her desk with the IDs list and headed for the basement.

As soon as she reached the basement, she checked off the IDs of the items that Wayne needed, and looked around to see if anyone else was near by or heading towards the room. When she saw no one, she quickly put the list and the pen down on the table next to the boxed prototypes, and headed for prototypes that were not out in the open.

She looked through the stack of metal drawers, opening and closing any item she didn't recognize and moving on to the next drawer. She paused when she came upon a drawer with a suit. It was labeled Military Armor…seeing it, she thought _it could be the same that Batman uses_. She quickly shut it when she heard footsteps.

While hurrying back to the table with the list and pen, she tried to see who was coming. Not being able to see anyone yet, she reached the table and picked up the list and pretended checking the IDs.

Bruce walked in, "Hey."

"Hi"

She caught Bruce looking around and eyeing everything as if trying to make out whether there was anything missing, "Lucius said I'd find you down here."

Looking into his eyes, after everything she had found out about him, she felt guilty prying into his personal life.

"Did you need something?" Evelyn asked.

"I needed to take a look at 28-C 1-BA. I need to see the details and notes on it, so we can make multiples. "

She looked at her list and realized it was…_body armor?_

"Yes…it's over here."

She had seen the body armor label next to the military armor, and led him towards the back of the room, where the military armor was located. She opened the drawer and took it out and placed it on the table nearby, it was for the torso, bullet proof.

"You seem to have gotten familiar with this area quickly."

The question shocked her.

_Did he see me looking around?_

Evelyn regained her composure and said, "Just doing my job Mr. Wayne."

While analyzing the body armor, Evelyn curiously asked, "If you don't mind my asking, what is this going to be used for?"

Bruce smiled, "I was actually going to borrow this for some personal use, and…."

"Personal use? Are you expecting having to fight with gunfire some time soon?" Evelyn suspected what he was going to use it for, but she couldn't let him think she knew anything.

Bruce smirked at her reaction, as if he remembered something similar, "Look, Ms. Knight, I'm not taking anything illegally…."

"Mr. Wayne, you don't need to justify yourself, because as I see it, all of this belongs to you anyway."

Bruce smiled a little more and said, "I can see you've been working a little too long with Fox, you seem to be getting a bit of his personality in you. That brings me to the other reason I wanted to see you. I need someone to work closely with me on this new project that Wayne Enterprises will be developing. Someone who is dedicated and willing to work long hours without overtime pay. I was wondering whether you'd be that person."

"Me? I would love to, it's a great opportunity, but I've only been working here for a few months now and…."

"You can stop being modest. I've already talked to Fox, and he's highly recommended you." He looked at his watch, seeing that it was lunch time, he said, "I'll let you go right now, but come to my office at three o'clock, and I'll give you details on this."

Evelyn smiled and nodded, "I will Mr. Wayne."

"Oh and I'll need notes on that body armor…bring it with you when you come to see me if you can, and forget about those other prototypes."

"Alright."

Bruce smiled and left.

* * *

Evelyn went back to her desk and sat in front of her computer wondering how quickly she was moving up, getting new opportunities especially being able to work with Bruce Wayne himself. She was suddenly distracted by a minimized article on her computer screen, which she had apparently forgot to delete. This brought her back to all that had consumed her before her conversation with Bruce. Seeing that she still had some questions unanswered, she decided to call Rachel to see if she could give her any information on the blackout. 

"Hello," Rachel said.

"Hey, it's Evelyn. I was wondering…."

"Hi Evelyn, sorry I can't talk right now. I have a trial in 15 minutes that I need to get ready for. Do you need something?" Rachel said quickly.

"Oh well, it wasn't anything too important. Just…I have to talk to you tonight. Good luck on your trial." Evelyn said.

"Oh thanks, but what did you want to talk about?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Nothing that can't wait until tonight."

"Ok, bye Evelyn. I'll see you tonight."

With that Evelyn hung up the phone, with her thoughts still engrossed in the dream. Seeing Bruce in front of her made her feel like she was in her dream again. She had to try so hard to keep her emotions in control. She wanted to tell him she knew exactly how he felt, she wanted to console him, but she knew she couldn't for so many reasons. Apart from everything, she knew she felt closer to him.

Before she headed for Bruce's office, she typed up notes on the body armor Bruce wanted. Knowing fully well what he wanted it for, she decided not to ask any more inquisitive question regarding its usage. After printing out the pages of notes and history of its development, she headed for his office.

When she reached his floor, she saw his secretary again, Molly.

"Hi, I'm here to see Mr. Wayne."

"I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Evelyn Knight."

"Right, Evelyn. Mr. Wayne is in a meeting right now, but he should be finishing up soon. You can take a seat over there." She said pointing to a chair leaning against the wall.

Not even bothering to say thanks this time, Evelyn walked over to the chair and sat down. With her legs crossed, and files in her arms held up against her chest, she leaned against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. She kept going over the last night's occurrence. She still couldn't believe that Bruce was Batman.

"Evelyn, you can come in."

Evelyn looked up to see Bruce standing with the door open. She got up and smiled at Bruce while walking towards his office. When she passed close to him while entering his office, she took in a whiff of his cologne. She walked in ahead of him but slowed down before reaching his desk.

Bruce came up next to her, "Please sit down."

Evelyn took a seat across from Bruce, and at the moment she couldn't help but admire his courage. She knew more about him than he thought, and she was intrigued by his selflessness. Her respect for him had augmented greatly compared to when she thought of him as a mere billionaire with a lot of time on his hands and interests in chauffeuring gorgeous women. With wonder imbedded in her thoughts, she didn't realize that Bruce was silently waiting for her to say something.

"Evelyn?" He finally said, bringing her back to reality.

"Oh, yea, I have the notes on the body armor," she said, handing him one file labeled 28-C 1-BA.

"Sorry," she apologized, feeling a little embarrassed.

Bruce smiled, "Ok let me fill you in on what we're going to be doing…."

An hour and a half later, Bruce and Evelyn had finished discussing what their next few weeks were going to entail.

_He wasn't joking when he said that it was going to long hours, without overtime._

After Evelyn had finished asking all questions regarding the details of her work layout, they sat quiet for a minute. Both of them wanted to say something to each other, as if they both knew what happened but didn't know where to begin. Evelyn intended on saying something regarding his parents' deaths, but didn't know how to say it without it sounding absurd. They were talking about projects, so how could she suddenly delve into his personal life.

"I've actually been wanting to talk to you about something, Mr. Wayne." She abruptly said.

"Oh before I forget, I wanted to ask you something also." Bruce interrupted.

"What did you want to ask?" A part of Evelyn was relieved that she didn't have to broach the subject.

"There is a dinner party scheduled for this Friday night, and I would really like it if you could attend. It's nothing too fancy, just a little anniversary party."

"Well I'd love to attend, but what is this Friday marking?"

"It's the day Wayne Enterprises was established." Bruce explained while Evelyn nodded.

"What is it you wanted to say?"

"Actually we should talk about it some other time."

"Is it something important?" Bruce asked with a worried countenance.

Evelyn looked down for a minute and then into his eyes. She felt a moment of sadness before she began, "It's actually regarding your parents'…."

"Mr. Fox is here to see you Mr. Wayne," Molly suddenly said over the phone interrupting anything that had been forming from Evelyn's mouth.

Letting out a sigh of frustration and relief, Evelyn said, "We can just talk about it later."

Bruce wanted her to stay but refrained from saying anything. He needed to keep his persona in tact. Evelyn got up to leave, and on her way out she passed Fox.

"Did you get your suspicions put to rest?"

_Did he know?_

"What do you mean Mr. Fox?"

"The new project. You just seemed a little skeptical of what Mr. Wayne was getting you into. I just wanted to know if you're comfortable with everything after talking to him."

Relieved, Evelyn said, "Oh, yes. I'm fine."

Sometimes it was as if Fox knew more than he let others know. He was a smart man, Evelyn wouldn't have been surprised if he did know Bruce's dual identity, but she wasn't at all worried because Fox was also a man one could blindly trust.

* * *

Evelyn found herself laying the sofa, staring at the view of Gotham, waiting for Rachel. Needless to say, she wanted time to think about everything else that had been happening, and she was going to use the excuse of waiting for Rachel to just lie on the sofa for hours and think everything through over and over again until it all made some kind of sense. Her eyelids began to feel heavy, and soon she was asleep. 

Her sight was blurred again, Evelyn remembered feeling this disoriented before. Now she was standing in a hallway, next to a storage room door, with windows to her right. No one else was here, she was alone again. She looked out the window and saw that she was across from the old Arkam Asylum building. Evelyn felt an urge to open the door, with her curiosity getting the best of her; she opened it but was disappointed to see no one was there. What she saw were clusters of old storage items. When she turned to leave, she saw Rachel's cell phone on the ground. Evelyn hurried towards it; when she bent down to pick it up she saw Rachel lying on the ground behind a table, unconscious. She was passed out so Evelyn tried to wake her but knew she couldn't. Soon enough she herself felt like she was going to pass out, right when she lost consciousness…Evelyn woke up on her sofa, in her living room, looking at the overview of Gotham.

-

* * *

** Author's Note:** Thank you for reviews again : ) Keep reviewing for more updates. Questions, concerns, complaints and compliments can be stated in your reviews. 

(More will be revealed about Evelyn's background: her family, her home, her past, etc.)

Questions to Consider in your **REVIEWS:**

- _Did you guys like this chapter?_ I know it was kind of a "filler" chapter, and it ended with a semi-cliffhanger, but the next chapter (which will be posted as soon as I get reviews) will be more interesting and I believe it will actually begin this story's "Action/Adventure".

- _Do you guys want more romance between Bruce and Evelyn? _This is a romantic story or at least trying to be so far, but let me know if you guys want to see more attraction between the two.


	7. Suspicions and Affections

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize.

**_READ & REVIEW!! –_ This one is really long! I put two chapters together for you guys, so please review!**

**- **

* * *

_Chapter 7- Suspicions and Affections_

_Maybe Rachel really is in trouble, _Evelyn thought. _  
_

She sat up, thinking for a moment, before she stood up and called everyone she and Rachel knew. She first called Rachel's cell phone, but when she didn't pick up, she called the DA's office.

"Hello, Harvey Dent's office." A woman said.

"Hi, I was wondering whether Rachel Dawes was still at work?" Evelyn asked, hoping that she was.

"Hold for a moment please," there was a pause until she picked up the phone again, "No, ma'am. She left hours ago."

Evelyn's breaths began to get rapid, while thinking where Rachel could be.

The woman on the other end, getting a little worried, asked, "Is everything ok ma'am?"

"Um….If it's not too much trouble, could you please give me a call back, at 555-9401, in case Rachel shows up there, or if you find out anything?" Evelyn asked.

"Yes, it's no problem," she paused before she continued, "I'm sure she'll show up soon and be fine." The woman said trying to console Evelyn.

"Thank you." She hung up the phone.

Then she called her acquaintances from the phone book, one after the other, each response left Evelyn in disappointment. No one knew where she was.

Evelyn got off the sofa put on her black coat, grabbed her keys and cell phone and rushed out of her apartment. She didn't have a car, since she and Rachel used her car whenever required, so she waved for a taxi in front of her apartment building. Eventually a taxi pulled up in front of her and she got in the backseat. The driver looked to her, for the destination.

"The Narrows, stop near the old Arkham Asylum location." Evelyn said while her heart beat rapidly.

He looked at her as if she was insane going there at this hour.

"Could you go please?! I'm in a hurry." She exclaimed.

The driver turned towards the road, and began to drive away from her home.

Rachel had become the closest friend Evelyn had ever since she moved to Gotham. Everything from showing her the basics of living in the big city to supporting her through any trouble, Rachel had been with her. Evelyn had a habit of being protective of her friends and the ones she loved. Although she wasn't always defensive, unpreventable events changed the way she saw the world. Memories that she had hidden in the deepest corners of her mind were eventually unearthed contributing to her growing fears of the unpredictable.

In the taxi, she sat calmly looking out the window but her mind was overflowing with worry. She also had a habit of stressing out more than she needed to, but it was different this time, the dream seemed a little too reminiscent of her previous dream. As if this one was a message. Lost in her anxious thoughts she didn't realize how quickly they had arrived at her stop. She got off quickly not wasting any time, and neither did the driver. He drove off so hastily there were skid marks on the street.

Her pace was quicker than usual when she walked from where the driver dropped her off to the area where the Arkham Asylum was previously located. She kept a lookout at all times, and quickly reached her destination. Evelyn had decided not to call the police earlier because she did not want to lead them on a chase based on a dream, so she waited to see if she could have some kind of proof before she called. Rachel had given her a Lt. Gordon's number in case she ever needed any help from the police. With her cell phone in one hand and her eye on the building in front of her, she saw Rachel's car parked in front.

Now Evelyn was sure that Rachel was there, so she headed for the building but stopped in the middle of her tracks when she saw men coming out of the front door. She quickly hid behind a broken down car parked next to her but kept watching the men. There were three of them; one was moving rather sluggishly, while the other two were following him. The man in the front looked rather foolish, with bizarre colored hair, and a ridiculous suit. It was almost as if he was some absurd magician or a clown from a circus. Either way she didn't take him seriously, as if this whole thing was a joke, but her confidence was shattered when she saw a fourth man come out but with something in his hand being dragged. She looked intently trying to make out what it was when the flood lights revealed it was a person with blood dripping from its corpse. Most likely it was dead, by the way its neck was hanging off the rest of his body, and it looked like it had been tortured or beaten horribly and finally killed. Only a madman would do something like that, fear finally took over her. She dialed Gordon's number.

"Hello?" Gordon said.

Evelyn whispered, "Hello. This is Evelyn, I'm a friend of Rachel Dawes. Listen, I think Rachel is in trouble, I think someone has done something to her. I'm in the Narrows. I just saw a couple of men walk out of the abandoned warehouse across from the old Arkham Asylum and I think Rachel is in there. Could you please help me?"

"Evelyn, I'm going to need you to hide somewhere safe if you can. I'll get there in ten minutes, don't worry. Do you recognize any of the men?" Gordon said as he was walking to his car.

"No. But I think I saw one of them carrying a dead body out. There are four of them, but only one of them seems to be leading this thing. The man looks crazy. He looks like a clown but he's definitely dangerous. Get here quickly please. I don't think Rachel has much time."

"Stay calm and out of sight." Gordon said as his final words before hanging up.

Evelyn hung up the cell phone. The men were heading towards a car next to Rachel's. At the thought that they were leaving, Evelyn prepared to run into the building and find Rachel herself, but her thoughts were trampled when she saw that only one of the men got into the car, the henchmen stayed behind. The man with the corpse in his hand headed for the dumpster after the car drove off. He dumped the body in there, and lit the contents of the dumpster on fire. Seeing this, Evelyn decided to stay put and wait for Gordon.

She waited as patiently as she could before looking at her watch, ten minutes had passed, and the police still weren't here. She had a feeling that Rachel didn't have much time. Either she would die depending on whatever they had given her to make her pass out, or the henchmen themselves would go in and treat her the same way they treated the man who was now burning in the dumpster. Trying to keep her emotions in control, and her plan sensible, Evelyn thought of going through the back of the building.

_But how? _

She looked around, and saw that she could crawl her way to the building on the right. After that she could just run from the back of that building to the back of the warehouse and find Rachel. Evelyn bent her knees and crouched down. She walked as fast as she could to the end of the building. Not being able to watch the henchmen, she hoped they didn't see her. Now that was definitely out of view, she ran to the back of the building as fast as she could. When she reached the corner, she turned to her left and ran even faster. She couldn't waste anymore time.

_Bang! Bang!_

She heard gun shots, which made her jump. She tried to find where the gunshots were coming from when she saw two of the henchmen running after her firing towards her. Frightened at the thought that she might die, she lost her footing and tripped onto the pavement. She got up on her feet again and ran again but something was tugging at her coat. She tried to get away but her feet weren't on the ground any more. It was as if she was running on air. Now even more terrified, she tried to see who had grabbed her. She turned to see Batman holding on to her coat, and flying up towards the top of the building.

Amazed that she was actually in the presence of Batman, for a moment she forgot that it was actually Bruce Wayne. Her fear of heights finally got to her when she saw the height of their ascent, causing her to grab his torso. She clutched on to him as if she would die otherwise. Her heart rate was beating furiously, but when she looked up at him, towards his eyes, comfort and security overcame her. They hung off the side of the building in the dark, hiding themselves from the henchmen. When he felt as if she going to slip off of him, Batman pulled Evelyn up to his level. Caught off guard by his actions, Evelyn kept her hands held onto him, placing her right arm over his left shoulder and her left palm on his right shoulder. She could smell his cologne; it was the one he wore during the day. She was analyzing every detail of his face, trying to imagine the parts that were covered.

When she looked up, she saw that he was looking at her intently. They were barely inches away. He looked at her as if he was also trying to memorize her every feature. They had never been this close, and it raised feelings that they hadn't felt for each other. They were still, he continued to look at her in a way he hadn't before and she continued study him. She felt something magnetically pulling her towards him. She lifted her hand off of his shoulder and felt his soft face just with the tip of her fingers, as if afraid to place her whole palm. Evelyn expected him to oppose her touch, but he didn't. He kept looking at her attentively. She looked deep into his eyes, expecting to see the happiness veiling the sadness as she saw in Bruce's eyes, instead she saw anger, and she realized that he wasn't Bruce Wayne. It was as if he was a whole other person underneath the mask. The more Evelyn thought about it the more she realized that she didn't know this person at all.

"What are you doing here?" Batman asked unexpectedly.

Bringing her back to reality, Evelyn's thoughts went to Rachel causing her to quickly remove her hand and distance herself from him as much as she could, "I think Rachel's here, in the warehouse. She might be hurt." Evelyn said not even trying to pretend that she didn't know the relationship between him and Rachel.

He flew to the back of the warehouse, and swiftly brought her back to the ground.

"Stay here," he said and flew away towards the gun fire.

Evelyn could hear punches being thrown, and random gun fire, but soon she didn't hear anything. She couldn't stand waiting any longer, she saw a door a few feet down, and headed towards it. She had to get into the building and help Rachel. Luckily it was open, and once she had gotten in, she ran towards the staircase at the corner of the hall.

_Hopefully there aren't any more thugs in the building, otherwise I'm dead. _

She ran up the stairs and got out on the third floor on a whim, trying to remember something similar to her dream. She walked around silently, in case there was someone here with a gun. Not remembering anything, she walked to the other side of the floor. There were doors on her left, and windows to her right, but nothing clicked.

"Hey!"

Evelyn turned to see Lt. Gordon running up behind her. She was so keen on finding the right part of the building, that she didn't even hear police sirens.

"She's in this warehouse, but I can't find her." Evelyn said disappointed.

"We'll find her don't worry." Gordon said right before picking up his transmitter and speaking into it calling for backup. Evelyn just stood there, refusing to believe that she couldn't find some clue from her dream. She heard sirens outside so she walked up to the window, and saw the henchmen being dragged away in police cars. Right then her sight was led to the view of the old Arkham Asylum building. She walked up the hall still staring at the building, trying to get the exact view in her dream. It finally clicked!

_That's what I saw in my dream, the same view. And the door was directly across from it…._

Evelyn turned around saw the door, with broken letters serving as a label.

_The storage room!!_

Gordon was eyeing her strangely the whole time, while wondering whether Rachel was here at all. She opened the door and walked in to find the room filled with random items clustered together. Gordon followed her in.

"What makes you think she's in here?" He asked, but she ignored him keeping her eyes on the floor for her cell phone.

When she found it, she bent down and to her left saw Rachel lying on the floor just like she was in her dream. She ran over, and tried to wake her up, when she failed Gordon reached down and picked her up and carried her out of the building.

Evelyn half expected Batman to be there, seeing as he was very close to Rachel, but he was nowhere in sight. Then a silhouette on the roof caught her attention, he was standing there watching. When the ambulance arrived to take Rachel, Evelyn sat inside, next to her holding her hand until they arrived at Grady's Emergency Room entrance.

* * *

While waiting for Rachel in the family waiting area, she saw Lt. Gordon arrive through the doors followed by Bruce not too far behind coming towards where she was standing. 

_It's almost midnight, yet here's Bruce Wayne, dressed in one of his casual designer shirts and slacks along with his name brand dress shoes._

"How is she?" Bruce asked her.

"The doctors haven't said anything, but I think she'll be fine." Evelyn said trying to eliminate any fears in Bruce.

He looked worried, but then he let his eyes gaze over her body, as if trying to see if she was injured.

"Are you ok? Did you get hurt?" He asked and lifted his hand as if to touch her but refrained. The look in his eyes couldn't let anyone mistake the question as a concerned friend, instead it was a concerned beloved who didn't know how he could show his affection without confusing or scaring her.

Evelyn was a little surprised by his concern but this reassured her thoughts that he felt something for her, so she replied, "No, I'm fine."

He stepped away from her and paced back and forth, with his hands in his pockets, while Evelyn leaned her head against the wall behind her. Not being able to stay still, she looked around and caught Lt. Gordon looking at her. She tried to ignore his uncomfortable stare, when he finally asked, "How did you know?"

"Know what?" Evelyn asked, pretending to be naïve.

"About Rachel. That she was in trouble and…?"

Evelyn broke him off, "I had talked to her during lunch, and she had said she was going to be back early tonight but I waited until ten o'clock and she wasn't back. I thought something might've happened."

"I meant, how did you know where she was…exactly where she was?" He continued his interrogation, but by the sound of his voice Evelyn knew he wasn't trying to seem harsh. He was just curious, and he didn't think of her as a threat, rather as someone who somehow knew the right place and reached there at the right time. Before she could say anything a doctor walked towards them.

"Rachel is fine. She didn't breathe in anything too harmful, and she's awake. She might be a little groggy right now, but she'll be back to normal in a couple of hours." With that the doctor left, and the three of them walked into her room.

After Rachel reacquainted with Evelyn and Bruce and gave everyone thanks, Lt. Gordon left. Bruce looked at Rachel as if he was close to losing another loved one in his life. Standing farther back, and watching them interact, Evelyn realized that Bruce and Rachel cared deeply for each other, and there was no place for her in his world. She walked out, feeling a little rejected, but not angry.

_Rachel is my best friend and I would never want to take anything away from her._

Maybe it was the exhaustion or the near death experience, but she felt tears forming in her eyes. One moment she was overwhelmed by fear for her life as well as her friend's and now she was overwhelmed by feelings for her boss. Evelyn knew something had happened when he held her close in the middle of the night sky, while saving her life. She had felt something for him that she hadn't felt for any man before. Her tears were on the verge of flowing out of her eyes and streaming down her cheeks.

_I can't believe I'm having feelings for my boss. My boss! Rachel's friend and obvious love interest. _

Standing with her back to the room, she didn't see Bruce walk up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?" he said.

Broken out of her thoughts, Evelyn turned around and put a smile on her exhausted face somehow holding back her tears.

"Yea, just tired," she paused and looked into the room, "is she asleep?"

Bruce nodded, "I think she'll be out for a little bit, but she's going to be okay."

Evelyn felt so much compassion and care in his voice; it made her feel a little guilty about getting close to him while he was Batman. She looked at him wondering how many things he must have to deal with yet here he was standing in front of her as if he didn't have a care in the world, well besides Rachel at the moment. He looked at her with concern, before asking again, "Are you sure you're okay? You did have quite a lot to deal with from the looks of it."

She could feel the air getting thicker between them, as if he were feeling the same thing. The same intensity of attraction, yet trying so hard to restrain himself from doing anything. "I did, but then again I did have help." Evelyn said trying to make things a little less intense.

"Lt. Gordon? Yea he's one of the best cops Gotham has." He said while looking innocent.

Evelyn smiled at his attempt to avoid talking about Batman. "Well yes, but I was talking more about Batman."

"Batman? He was there?" He said, pretending to be surprised.

"Uh-huh," she looked at him keenly, trying to study his every reaction and facial expression. "He saved my life you know."

"Oh, really? Well that's a good thing he was there then," he said with a childish smile.

"Yea it was…who knows what would've happened if he wasn't there. I would probably be the one lying on that bed except bleeding to death. Wish there was a way I could thank him, god knows he needs to be appreciated more," Evelyn said knowing she was thanking Batman right then.

"I'm sure he knows you're thankful. But what do you mean by appreciated more?" He asked, clearly wanting to know more about what people thought.

"Well it isn't a secret that not everyone thinks he's a godsend. Some think he's a menace, not doing things the "correct" way, while others think he belongs in a straightjacket in Arkham Asylum," she paused and leaned in towards Bruce to whisper, "I suppose its because of the whole dressing up like a giant bat aspect."

"And what do _you_ think about Batman?" Bruce asked while holding a smirk on his face.

"Me? Well considering he saved my life tonight, it would be kind of rude to agree with those who say he belongs in an asylum," she teased, but when she saw Bruce trying to hide his hurt expression, she became sober, "…I think he's the miracle Gotham needed. It's remarkable the way he jeopardizes his own life to save those he doesn't even know."

Bruce opened his mouth to say something, but Evelyn continued, not even realizing that he wanted to say something.

"Although it makes me think what might've happened that caused him to do this. I mean, think about it, it's not like one morning he actually woke up from his mundane yet perfect life and decided to fight crime at night with a mask on. Something must have happened."

She was ranting on with her theory, while in thought she was trying to connect the dots with her dream and the possible reason Batman did what he did. When she looked over to Bruce, Evelyn saw a look she had never before seen in his eyes, a sense of affection for her. She couldn't be mistaken by the potent gaze he had set on her, while she was talking about Batman, and had not removed since. She looked down at the ground for it was becoming increasingly harder for her to breathe whenever Evelyn looked up into Bruce's eyes. He leaned in even closer towards her, closing the little space they had between them. She couldn't help but feel nervous being this close in proximity to him. She sensed his face closer to hers when she felt him brush against her forehead. He lifted her chin up with his gentle fingers, until her eyes finally met his, then he let his palm encapsulate her cheek. Evelyn found it hard to continue holding back her tears, but she didn't want him to see her shed any, as if it was a sign of weakness. He brought his lips closer to hers, and she involuntarily closed her eyes. The moment she closed them, the tears she had been holding back flowed down. Wiping them away with his thumb on one side, he kissed away the tears on the other. He continued to trail butterfly kisses down her face until he reached her lips. He paused for a moment, as if trying to get her consent. When she didn't move away or hesitate, she felt his lips engulf hers. It was a sweet, tender kiss that showed how Bruce Wayne actually treated and thought of women. Not as a disposable pleasures, rather as meaningful pursuits. When their kiss was about to take a passionate turn when Evelyn broke away. Bruce looked concerned, as if he had done something wrong. She looked down, trying to compose a sentence, instead she began to utter random thoughts, "Bruce, I," she looked up at him, with love clearly present in her eyes, and put her palm on his face, "...I care about you, but...I don't think right now...its not the best time." Bruce took her hand into his and nodded. He distanced himself from her, but kept her hand in his. They waited, together.

An hour later, the doctor had come by to discharge Rachel, saying that there was nothing more to worry about, and they headed back home. Bruce left for the Wayne Manor, but only after Rachel repeatedly reassured him that she was going to be fine. Before he left, he looked at Evelyn, "Goodbye, Evelyn. I'll see you tomrrow." She could see passion in his eyes, and that he wanted to do more than just say goodbye, but she said, "Bye," and watched him leave.

* * *

While Rachel sat on the living room sofa, Evelyn walked around the kitchen getting a clean glass out to give Rachel some water. As she poured the water, all she could think about was Bruce and what had conspired between them. She didn't even realize what Rachel might've been thinking at the momen, or wondering how many questions must be running through her mind, and what she would ask to get everything clarified. Rachel had never told her where she was going to be that night, so what was Evelyn going to say in her defense. She had not thought about any of those things, instead only one person consumed her thoughts, Bruce. 

Walking over to Rachel, Evelyn said, "Here's your water."

"Thanks," Rachel gratefully said, while taking the glass.

But instead of drinking it, she held it in her hand and looked down at it. Evelyn knew what was coming. She wanted to tell Rachel everything, but fear of being misunderstood or thought of as delusional, restrained her from divulging the truth.

"There should be a lot of things that I should be thanking you for other than water tonight." She finally looked at Evelyn in the eyes.

"Drink the water. You should go to bed soon, otherwise you might feel weak in the morning," Evelyn said with a tired smile, attempting to veer the conversation onto another path, while walking back to the kitchen.

"You saved my life today, Evelyn," Rachel stood up to face Evelyn, "don't make it seem like it was nothing."

A pause.

"I'm not trying…," Evelyn finally said, "You're my best friend Rachel. I didn't want anything to happen to you, so I did whatever I could. That's all."

"That's not all Evelyn!" Rachel exclaimed clearly frustrated. She put the water on the coffee table and walked over to Evelyn. "How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Everything! No one knew where I was. No one! _**Except** _for the people who did this to me. How did you know I was in trouble? How did you know _where_ I was? How did you know…." Before Rachel could finish Evelyn broker her off.

"What are you trying to say? Wait…you think I somehow know one of the idiots that did this to you?! You told me on the phone this afternoon that you'd be done early tonight, and when you didn't come back by ten, I thought you must be in trouble," she exclaimed at Rachel in disbelief, "God Rachel! I've only been here for a few months, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the Assistant District Attorney of Gotham might be in trouble if she didn't come home on time, didn't pick up her cell phone and no one knew where she was," Evelyn continued, "How could you even think that for a moment I could be associated with the likes of them?!"

Livid at Rachel's accusation, Evelyn headed off to her room, but before she shut the door, she said sternly, "Drink your water, and go to bed."

-

* * *

**PLEASE READ:** I didn't get as many reviews last time as I wanted. Please review so I know whether you guys want me to continue this story otherwise it just seems as if I'm posting this for no one. So when you read, please just take like a minute to review and put in your thoughts about the chapter or the story so far. They will be greatly appreciated : ) 

**I do want to thank those couple of reviewers (Cole and Raging Raven) for reviewing the last chapter: _THANKS!_**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** – I would love to have at least a total of **12** reviews before I post Ch. 8!!

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	8. Care Masked by Indifference

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

**_Read & Review!  
_**

* * *

_Chapter 8 - Care Masked by Indifference_

_- _

The early morning sun bathed Gotham City with its rays, melting the frost that had formed on the grass blades during the previous night's cold atmosphere. Evelyn's eyes had opened before the sun revealed its glares in her room. She had repeatedly woken up during the night before, her thoughts kept bringing her back to what Rachel had said. She regretted walking away from their conversation, regretted not listening to everything Rachel had to say, and regretted yelling at her after everything that had happened.

Evelyn walked out of her room already dressed for work. She unconsciously walked from her bedroom into the common area wondering whether Rachel was still there or had left for work. The tense situation had eaten her appetite, so she walked towards the window. Looking out to the world on the opposite side of the glass, she reflected on the previous night's happenings.

_How could she think that I had anything to do with it?_

_How could she be so horribly mistaken?_

"Why are you up so early?" Rachel's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Evelyn turned to see Rachel standing behind the sofa, all ready for work with her large handbag-like briefcase. Looking at her, one wouldn't even think that she was in the hospital the night before. Evelyn looked down for a moment then began to say, "I'm sor…," but she was cut off by a telephone ring.

Rachel removed her cell phone from her pocket, "Hello, Rachel Dawes."

Evelyn could hear the person's voice from her cell phone, it sounded like a man. By the pitch of his voice and the fast paced mumbles, it seemed urgent. While Evelyn was trying to comprehend the severity of the phone call by studying Rachel's countenance and attempting to decode the caller's mumbles, Rachel shot a look at Evelyn. A look of surprise and concern, as if she had just heard the worst news possible at the moment but was in denial. She hung up the phone after she said, "Okay I'll be there as soon as I can."

She put her phone back in her bag, and with a determined look she said, "I can't talk about last night right now, Evelyn. There's something else that I need to take care of."

Before she walked out of the apartment, she turned to Evelyn with a very disturbed look and said with a compassionate voice, "Be careful today, okay."

Rachel had successfully avoided talking about last night, but it wasn't willingly. The phone call brought imperative news and she had to postpone the discussion. Evelyn just shook her head, as if she was contemplating giving up trying to resolve everything, but then she thought of the gaze Rachel had set on her while on the phone.

_She was worried, and what did she mean by "Be careful today…."? Could it have something to do with last night?_

Evelyn leaned on the back of the sofa, still pondering. She looked at the clock on the mantle to her right, and saw that it was 7:45am, and she decided to head off to work since she didn't have anything else to do. The thought of work suddenly brought back Bruce and the kiss they had shared. At this she blushed to herself, she still couldn't believe that had happened. What was she going to say when she saw him? How was he going to react? Those questions and others alike consumed her mind.

* * *

Apprehensive and anxious, she sat at her desk while her hands unconsciously did busy work. Her thoughts kept straying towards the intimate moment she had shared with Bruce. She kept asking herself those questions, then consoling herself by thinking about how Bruce truly felt about her. She knew he liked her and that she had a deep place in his heart where he'd safe keep her and protect her against any worries or troubles. Evelyn cared deeply about him, also. She loved and respected everything he stood for, as Batman and as Bruce Wayne. She would support him through anything and everything. She knew now what love felt like, to care for another so deeply that one would sacrifice everything dear to oneself for the other's happiness and well being. Some might think that it was foolish to feel this way after only a couple of meetings and one kiss, but that one kiss and those couple of meetings told her what she needed to reassure. Evelyn knew him like no other. Maybe it was because of the dream that she could say without hesitation that she knew how he felt at any given time. The night she encountered Batman in the Narrows, she had seen another person beneath the mask. When she had realized that she didn't know this version of Bruce, it was not fear that took over her but empathy. This person would fight for justice, protect innocence, and provide hope to those who had none to live for. She now truly knew Batman and Bruce Wayne. 

Lost in her world of wonder, Evelyn was oblivious to her surroundings. She didn't notice the hustle and bustle of people walking, chattering past her. She didn't notice the man standing in front of her, waiting patiently until she acknowledged his presence. That is until he became impatient and cleared his throat to get her attention.

The noise bringing her back to reality, Evelyn looked up, "Oh, hi Mr. Fo- uh Lucius. Sorry, I was immersed in…," she looked down to see what she was working on, "proofreading notes on prototypes."

Trying to make it believable, she quickly added, "You know how technical and detailed these things can get, and we can't have any mistakes." She finished with a smile.

Fox looked at her, clearly unconvinced, "Nice save….I heard on the news what happened last night. Are you okay? You can take the day off if you'd like."

"Thank you, but I really don't need it." She said gratefully.

"Okay," Fox said before he handed her files labeled F-38 SP, "Could you take these to Mr. Wayne? He might need them for the project you two are working on."

Evelyn took them and nodded. He began to walk away before he added, "Oh, and in case he's in a meeting, you can leave those with his secretary."

She headed toward the elevators with too much anticipation and adrenaline rushing through her body. She repeatedly pushed the elevator button, as if the number of pushes controlled how fast the elevator would reach her floor.

_Ding!_

She got into the empty elevator and pushed for the 45th floor. It moved up while stopping at random floors consuming other passengers and emitting them back out, painfully taking her to her destination.

_Ding!_

"Here it is." she whispered to herself.

Evelyn rolled her eyes when she saw Molly, Bruce's secretary. She walked over casually not even bothering to acknowledge Molly's presence before seeing whether his doors were open, but when she realized they were close, she turned towards her.

Molly was on the phone taking down reservations for some event after hours. Feeling like this would be a while, Evelyn decided to walk around looking at the random paintings, vases and other decorations. She was just wasting time, until she came upon a picture of a man in a suite and a woman standing in front of Wayne Enterprises. They looked familiar…_Of course! Bruce's parents._

The caption read:

**Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne**

**_May they live on forever in the memories and hearts of all those who believe in their cause._**

Evelyn saw the happiness in their eyes; it almost brought tears to hers when she thought of her dream and their death. She keenly looked at the picture, noticing the similarities between Bruce and his father. She smiled when she realized that he had his father's eyes and smile.

Suddenly, Evelyn didn't hear any voices, so she realized that Molly must have hung up the phone.

"Is he busy?" Evelyn asked her, not even bothering to be courteous at the moment.

Molly eyed her for a moment before responding. "Yes, he is. He's having an important meeting. Can I take a message?"

A little disappointed, Evelyn handed her the files, "These are from Mr. Fox, please make sure that these get to Mr. Wayne safe and sound. Thanks."

On her way back to her desk, she realized it was lunch time, so she grabbed her coat as well as her purse and left.

* * *

Evelyn inhaled the fresh air while she walked down two blocks towards a café she loved to go with Rachel. Remembering her initial days in Gotham as a newbie, she smiled to herself. Today, she wore a knee length, pinstripe pencil skirt, with a slim white cotton shirt underneath a feminine black trench coat that ended right above her knees and elegant peep-toe black pumps in refined texture-woven linen. While the layers of clothing kept her warm in the slightly chilly weather, the pumps gave her outfit a fashionable twist. As she was about to open the door to the café, she noticed Rachel's car parked across the street in front of a commercial building with various rooms rented to random businesses or medical practitioners. She read the signs with all the names: Travel Ltd., Dr. Raymond Hayes, DDS, Keyes Insurance, Dr. Harley Quinn, Psychiatrist and Majestic Realty. 

_What could Rachel possibly need here?_

She quickly noticed a police car parked near Rachel's, and she saw police men walking out of the building with a man in handcuffs being directed towards the police car. Evelyn rushed across the street wondering if Rachel had anything to do with it and if she was okay. Before Evelyn reached the car, she saw Rachel walking out behind the police men.

"Rachel!" She yelled to get her attention.

Rachel rushed over as soon as she saw Evelyn. She put her hand on Evelyn's arm to lead her towards her car.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked sternly.

Before Evelyn could answer, Rachel continued, "Evelyn, you shouldn't be here, I told you I had things to take care of." She blocked Evelyn's view, as if trying to hide something from her.

"Rachel? What are you doing…," Evelyn said while stepping away from Rachel's arm, "What happened? I just wanted to say hi and if you were okay since you looked very troubled this morning."

Rachel stepped away from her view but the police and the criminal had already entered the car. "I have to go Evelyn, just go back to work, and **don't** come back here."

With that Rachel got into her car and drove off behind the police car which sped off in front of her. Evelyn just stood there in alarm with the way Rachel had acted towards her.

_Why is she so upset with me? Does she still think that I'm involved with something? _

Now she was just upset that her best friend did not believe her, she stomped off towards the café to eat lunch.

In the café while drinking coffee, with an empty plate only serving crumbs sitting in front of her on the table, she sat in bottomless deliberation. Evelyn had to confront Rachel with everything, from seeing her in the dream to actually helping her. She didn't care anymore what Rachel would think; delusional was better than some criminal. The whole time she was sitting in the café, she kept noticing a man gazing at her from the corner of his eyes, but whenever she caught him, he turned away quickly. He was dressed in jeans, sneakers, a green hoodie and a baseball cap covering his head. She didn't recognize him as someone she was acquainted with, so she left quickly after she had finished her coffee. His continuous gazes caused uneasy feelings within Evelyn.

Walking on the sidewalk back towards Wayne Towers among many other pedestrians, Evelyn kept looking back to see incase that man was following her, but she didn't see him. After a few minutes and a couple of more glances behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see him.

Evelyn felt like her whole day had been ruined. Not being able to see Bruce, being yelled at by Rachel, and the stranger in the café. It was almost as if last night was a catalyst of events that would only lead from bad to worse, but what could be worse now? Everything she had hoped to happen that day didn't happen, instead the complete opposite did. She wanted to apologize to Rachel to resolve any suspicions, and she wanted to see Bruce to know how he felt about her. Nothing happened, nothing!

Sitting in her chair, staring at her computer screen all she could think was how much she didn't want to be there, as if she was wasting time and she wasn't doing anything productive. She decided to check her emails; maybe something important could've come up. Nothing…wait, an email regarding a dinner…_of course the Friday night dinner._

The email was an official invitation for Evelyn, as well as one guest. She just kept wondering who she could take as her guest, maybe Rachel, if they eventually start talking again. Who? Maybe Bruce would ask her. As much as Evelyn wanted him to do so, she only thought of whether that would be possible in reality. How would it affect their personal and work life if everyone, including co-workers, thought they were seeing each other?

_No, he won't ask me. It just wouldn't be plausible. Plus he would've called me or asked me already. _

All of a sudden her gloomy atmosphere took a drastic change when she saw Bruce heading towards her. In his usual designer suite and tie business attire, walking towards her with purpose, decreasing the distance between them. Evelyn couldn't take her eyes off of his for all she wanted to do was jump up and hug him, but her professionalism held her back.

"Hi, Evelyn," he said with a sweet voice, "could I talk to you in private?"

She just nodded, got up off of her chair, and followed him towards a door.

_Why is he here? Maybe he does want to ask me to be his date. He probably wanted to ask in person. _

She either didn't know where he was taking her or she didn't care. Like a partisan she walked behind him, and like his shadow she followed him. They were standing in the middle of an empty hallway with only doors surrounding them and the walls listening to them.

Evelyn got what she wanted all day, to finally be able to talk to Bruce alone, but as much as she tried to say something, she couldn't form any words. She just kept blushing and hoping that he would say something first.

_Please say something._

"I'm sorry," he said with an apologetic and regretful tone.

Evelyn looked up at him with a bemused expression, trying to fully comprehend what he had just said.

_Sorry??_

"I shouldn't have done that, I…we shouldn't have kissed. I'm sorry." He continued with swerving gazes, never directly looking into her eyes.

Still stunned that this was happening, Evelyn kept quiet. Tears began forming in her eyes. She knew what she had wanted to say to Bruce earlier, but now she couldn't even fathom what he was trying to tell her.

_How can he do something like this? How could I have mistaken everything as pure and true love?_

When Evelyn didn't say anything in response to his apology, Bruce continued slowly, thinking or hoping she had forgiven him, "About the dinner Friday night, the one I told you about. I know you received an invitation with one guest, but I was wondering if you would like to come to the dinner with me, I'd…"

"Why do you want me to go with you Bruce?" Evelyn interrupted him without hesitation, without regret. "Why?"

"Don't misunderstand my intentions, Evelyn, I…" Bruce said trying to defend his request.

"You're misunderstanding me, Bruce." Her anger was veiled by apathy. "You regret what happened between us, right…that it was a mistake?

Bruce nodded, "Yes, the mistake was mine."

His words pierced her heart like a spear being driven in only to tear her apart slowly, painfully and without vacillation.

"Then why do you want to give the world any other indication that we're together?" Evelyn tried so hard to remove the pain from her voice. "We shouldn't make one mistake after another, Bruce."

"Evelyn, its…" He tried to console her.

"No, Bruce, you don't need to say anything else." She shook her head, "Nothing else…."  
And she turned away from him before her tears traveled down her face. She didn't want to show him that he had the capability of doing that to her.

* * *

There she was, walking away from him, in all probability from his life. When his first love had declined taking the place of companion, he had understood. His heart was wounded at first, but he understood the risks of being the love interest of Batman. Rachel had known that Bruce was Batman, but no matter what his aspirations were, he would have never put her life in risk, therefore they continued to be friends. He remembered what she had told him, _"Maybe one day when Gotham no longer needs Batman, maybe the man I love will come back."_

But both of them knew by now that he was never going to come back. The embodiment of Batman would stay with him forever and with the world. The man Rachel had loved was hidden deep beneath multiple layers, but he was most likely never going to return. So he had decided to move on, leaving the hope of having a loved one who knew everything about him yet still loved him and wanted to be with him, until he met Evelyn.

She was the first person who had made him feel invincible. First woman who had let him know that his ambitions and purposes of the night were not demented, instead it was venerable. First woman who truly knew what he felt and how he felt, as if she had somehow glanced into his soul. More than anything, he had wanted to embrace her wishes and never let her go. So why had he given up the love of his life, sacrificed his desires and trampled on the blanket of dreams that had been weaving since the first time they had met?

Like his worries during his first love's confession, he could not and would never let Evelyn's life be in danger. He loved her therefore he would never want her in any peril. He could never live knowing that something had happened to Evelyn and that it was his fault. He wanted her to be safe, and he would lie to her to achieve that. When he began to apologize, he couldn't look at her eyes. When he told her that everything they had felt was a mistake, he couldn't stand still. His conscious never let him.

_She probably thinks I am a coward. She probably hates me, but how can I let her know the basis of my actions?_

He never looked into her deep chocolate brown eyes for all he would see is pain, pain that he had caused. He couldn't touch her for she would've melted beneath his contact, and he knew he wouldn't have been able to distance himself from her. Her one look caused his whole self to tremble, and he couldn't have that. He was Batman and he had to keep his priorities in line. He was Bruce Wayne and he couldn't let anything deviate how the public viewed him. He could never let people make any comparison between Batman and Bruce Wayne, for it would wreak havoc in his life as well as for the ones he loved.

* * *

He sat at his desk with piles of papers in front of him, files he needed to review and contracts he needed to sign. Bruce couldn't concentrate on anything, the pain of causing tears to form in Evelyn's eyes lingered in his heart. 

"Mr. Wayne, Rachel Dawes is on line one for you." Molly said, disturbing his thoughts.

He rubbed his eyes, and picked up the phone. With a revived voice and jovial attitude he said, "Hi Rachel."

As Rachel spoke, Bruce's eye brows furrowed, a look of distress formed on his face. He quickly began writing down names and addresses of people he didn't know.

"Okay Rachel," with a serious tone, "don't worry, I'll see what this is about, but what does this have to do with Evelyn?"

He concentrated on her voice, taking in everything she was saying and trying to comprehend the message while stricken with worry.

"To Evelyn?" He softly questioned as if he couldn't believe what Rachel was informing him, "That can't be true. She's never showed any signs of….Are you sure?" With broken statements, he continued to communicate with her.

A pause and a sigh later Bruce began another topic, "I told her today. I pushed her away from me Rachel. Seeing her tears for a moment I regretted what I had done. I wanted to reverse everything, but now…knowing this, I know I did the right thing."

He nodded, voicelessly agreeing with whatever Rachel was telling him.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen." He consolded her.

Before they were about to terminate the call, he quickly added, "Rachel, could you…maybe make sure if Evelyn is okay?"

Grateful that Rachel heeded his request, Bruce replied, "Thanks."

He hung up the phone, and stood up to walk towards his ceiling height windows. Like a guardian angel, he stood watching the miniscule denizens going about their lives.

* * *

_I feel like my life is turning upside down. _

Evelyn couldn't stop the tears forming in her eyes and rolling down her face. She wiped one away then another followed. With a box of Kleenex in her left hand and a tissue in the other, wiping away at her face, she lay on her bed trying to contemplate why Bruce had been so indifferent towards her. His dispassion made her angry, yet how could she blame him. She knew who he was, what he was. A part of Evelyn knew why he had rejected her, but most of her refused to believe it at the moment. Anger and grief had clouded her thoughts. The pain her best friend had caused her today, the lack of trust she had bestowed upon her, the indifference Bruce had shown her, all caused pain, too much pain. She wanted to cry all of it away because it was too much for her to confront the truth about Bruce's intentions or the possibility of Rachel's loyalty now. With her eyes reddened by the repeated rubs, and her body tired from all the crying, she fell asleep.

…

_Not again!_

She opened her eyes to find grassy knolls surrounding her, trees with leaves so green she had never witnessed before stood steady in the vast meadow, while fields of mustard plants swayed with the wind. No fog, no cloud blocked her vision.

_Where am I?_

As much as she tried, Evelyn couldn't figure out where she stood. No life around her, not even a bird or insect. She walked on the dirt path presented before her. She realized the pain lingered. The tears had neither dried nor stopped shedding.

_Why am I still upset?_

She felt someone approaching her from behind so she quickly turned to face her follower. A look of shock and confusion overcame her face. As if it was someone she was skeptical of, someone she didn't expect to see at all. Evelyn stood before a man dressed in jeans, sneakers, a green hoodie and a baseball cap covering his head.

_You're the man from the café….who are you?! What do you want from me?! _

She yelled the loudest she could scream, with her breath and voice still unstable from the crying. But he did not say anything, he just stood there looking at her with a sympathetic smile. He moved his hands towards her, but she did not shift in fear. She just stood watching his hands closing in on her. He did not hurt her, instead he wiped her tears away. With the tears, he had wiped away her pain. She felt rejuvenated, a new hope had formed within her. Evelyn looked up into his eyes now not angry but appreciative yet exhausted. She felt like she could trust him, the affection he had shown her melted any fear he had aroused in her earlier in the day. Listening to the wind blowing and their own breaths, they stood quiet. Not knowing what she should say, Evelyn kept her silence, but she expected him to say something, yet he didn't. Before she could do anything, he began to disappear. Evelyn quickly reached out her arm trying to grab him to keep him from leaving but was unsuccessful. The meadow and the trees and the fields all disappeared along with him.

Evelyn woke up, still lying in the same position with tissues next to her. The tears on her face were gone, as if she had never shed any. Just like in her dream, she felt revived.

_Who was he? _

_What did he do to me?_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you all for the reviews!!!!! You guys are officially the best readers on this website! 

Took longer than usual to post this, because I was spending a lot of time trying to proofread, fix plot holes, etc. Basically, trying to make it meet your expectations.

Hopefully this chapter was somewhat up to your expectations, what do you guys think?

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	9. Author's Note

**This is not a real chapter. **

Response to comments about the story:

For those of you who think that Evelyn is being impulsive by falling in "love" with Bruce, _yes_ she is being impulsive. What the story line presents is how Evelyn feels, but it is not necessarily rational. She is the type of person who rarely falls for someone, but when she does, she falls hard. So for me, Evelyn LOVES the idea of being in love with Bruce, but is not actually in love with him. She just doesn't realize that yet.

For Bruce, now that I've gone back and re-read his thoughts, I realized that I did get a little ahead of myself. What I really wanted to portray for Bruce was that he recognized the potential that lies within their feelings for each other, and he really does care about her. I did use the word love very loosely when I was writing Bruce's thoughts. Sorry about that, but I will try to make the next chapter more believable.

As for the friendship between Evelyn and Rachel, I really love that I'm getting the reaction that I wanted. I don't want to reveal too much of the plot yet, as far as Rachel's feelings regarding her friendship with Evelyn is concerned, but all will be unfolded throughout the chapters.

_**Hint:**_ Rachel is _not_ a "bad guy" and I'm trying to keep from portraying any characters as two-dimensional.

**_Love you guys for reviewing, keep it up!!!!_** I will try to keep improving the story (taking your reviews into consideration) as well as posting as soon as possible.

* * *

** Part of the reason I posted this Note **

VIRGINIA TECH

This is a message I wanted to post since the atrocious incident, which occurred on April 16, has affected everyone in some way, especially college students. My friends and I knew people who either go there or have some kind of connection to the university. I don't know how to describe the sadness we feel, and I can't fathom how it must have affected the families and friends of the innocent victims. All I would like to say is may the victim's souls' rest in peace and may the families and friends find solace in the arms of hope and love.


	10. An Old Friend

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

_**Read & Review!**_

**Sorry I haven't updated in a long time…I had FINALS and I started work the Monday right after my last final which was on the Friday before, hence the extra delay in updating.**

* * *

_Chapter 9 – A New Friend_

_- _

While left in wonder by the dream that had encompassed her whole being, Evelyn laid on her bed without any intentions of doing anything until she could somehow decipher it.

_Ding Dong!_

She wasn't expecting anyone, and as of right now she could care less who it was. When she didn't answer the door, the person resorted to knocking rather than ringing the bell. She tried to ignore it, but the knocking soon turned into pounding. Frustrated, Evelyn quickly left her bed and headed to the door. She opened the door preparing to turn the visitor away without any interest, but when she looked up to meet the eyes of her visitor, her expression drastically changed from indifference to surprise then finally to an expression of complete excitement. She forgot her prior thoughts and jumped up to hug the man who stood in front of her.

* * *

Bruce walked into darkness heading down the stairs towards a vague hint of light. His face was beset with disappointment and a little anger. He didn't know how he had screwed up things with Evelyn or if anything would get better, all he knew was that Evelyn was safer not being associated with him.

"Sir, would you like me to serve dinner now or a little later?!" Alfred yelled so that Bruce could hear him in the cave. He had only been down there whenever he was required, the cave was not the sanitary area he wanted to encounter on a daily basis.

"Later Alfred!" Bruce replied.

He sat on a large piece of protruded rock, while he stared at his hands. Hands which had trained in the mountains of Tibet to rid the corrupt and the evil that existed in Gotham. Hands which had once held a gun to kill the man who had haunted his memories for so long. Hands which had now only worked towards the good of mankind and to a certain extent redeeming himself of contemplating murder. Bruce decided this was something he wanted to continue until he would completely lose his physical capability of being Batman, and he wouldn't let anything get in the way of that.

* * *

"Oh my god!!!!! Henry…I…what…." Evelyn exclaimed while unsuccessfully attempting to form a sentence. Still not fathoming that her best friend had shown up at her apartment.

"What brought you to Gotham?!?!" She continued to ask when Henry didn't say anything, just smiled and hugged her back.

"Can I come inside?" Henry asked when they released each other.

"Oh…yea! Yea, come in. I haven't seen you since college. How has everything been? What are you doing here? And…how did you find my apartment??" Evelyn asked multiple questions, not giving him any time to reply.

"Whoa, hold on. I'm fine. I came here for work purposes, and the last time we had talked you told me that you live in midtown Gotham."

Patiently waiting for Henry to continue, Evelyn stared at him but when he didn't say anything, she continued, "So…what about your personal life?! Did you elope to Vegas and get married? Do you have like ten kids? What's up???"

Henry laughed, "No, nothing like that. Haven't found anyone who can stand me long enough to want to spend the rest of her life with me. What about you?" He paused while analyzing Evelyn's facial expression, trying to gather anything that would hint that she wasn't in a relationship.

Evelyn sighed, "No. I haven't found anyone who would want to spend the rest of his life with me either," she finished with a sad smile and looked down when reminded of Bruce.

Henry realized he had hit a sensitive spot so he changed the subject, "So…hows the city life been treating you? Staying out of trouble?"

Evelyn looked up, "It's not as exciting as you'd like to believe," she lied.

"I find that hard to believe when all I hear about is Batman all over the news," he paused, "have you met him?"

Evelyn scoffed, "Yea right!" She looked away, trying to avoid his eyes, because she knew she was never a good liar.

Henry felt something but decided he'd let it go. All he wanted was to visit his best friend and from what it looked like, Evelyn needed some cheering up. He stood up off the couch and Evelyn looked up at him trying to figure out what he was doing.

"Come on, show me around the city; it's nice out today."

Evelyn smiled, "Okay. Let me get my coat."

* * *

"How are you holding up?" Rachel asked.

Bruce looked up at her, seeing her worried countenance, he smiled sadly, "What are you talking about?"

"Bruce don't pretend to be oblivious," Rachel crouched down to meet his gaze while resting her hands on his, "I know you really care about her and this isn't exactly the first time you've had to let go of an important person in your personal life to prevent any liabilities from affecting your…covert crusades."

Bruce looked away, avoiding her gaze.

Rachel brought her hand to his face, "Look at me…I know how you feel, but this is the right thing."

He didn't say anything.

She stood up and walked across the room to look out the window.

"Be practical here. If you want her to be safe, keep her away from this. I don't know if she'll be able to handle any of this if she finds out about you. I'm sure she'll want to help in any way she can but you and I both know how dangerous all of this crap can get and I know neither of us want her to be in any jeopardy."

She turned around to find that Bruce had gotten off of the couch and had his back turned to her. This was taking a lot more out of him than she had thought.

When he didn't say anything, Rachel continued, "Evelyn and you are the closest friends I have. You guys are like family to me. I want both of you to be happy, but I don't want to lose either of you. You already risk your life, and I can't change that but I can prevent Evelyn from getting involved…."

Rachel began to wonder if Bruce was listening to her at all. She walked over and put her hand on his shoulder, "Bru –"

Bruce suddenly turned around, "Don't worry Rachel. You're right, Evelyn is safer this way. I know that, but I hate that I hurt her. I can't get that moment out of my mind. I practically made her cry. I just wish I could be close to her without actually being with her. I just want to know she's safe."

Rachel almost had tears in her eyes, "I'll make sure she's ok."

Bruce smiled consentingly and brought his best friend into a comforting embrace.

* * *

The leaves were starting to return on the naked branches of the large oak trees. The wind blew lightly, keeping the strands of tendrils out of Evelyn's face. She looked around the park, admiring the bystanders who looked so happy going on with their daily lives. Families, friends, lovers, all blissfully happy with what they had, enjoying the beautiful evening with the ones they loved.

"It's amazing here," Henry's voice brought Evelyn out of her thoughts, "I never liked large cities, but it's wonderful here."

"You do remember this is Gotham right - the city with the highest crime rate?"

Henry laughed, "Well yeah…" he turned to face her, "but I suppose I feel wonderful because the company is so beautiful."

Evelyn looked at him with a smirk, "Did you just give me a compliment?"

He didn't answer instead just looked at her admiringly.

Evelyn got a little uncomfortable and looked away but couldn't prevent from a smile forming on her face.

A little awkward silence passed them.

"So…how long are you staying here?" Evelyn asked trying to revive their conversation.

"Just until Saturday morning, my flight is leaving at 11am."

"Saturday?! Henry, it's Thursday today, how can you leave that early? No…you're not leaving."

"Ev –"

"No you're not leaving on Saturday!"

"I have –"

"What? Have what? More important things than spending time with you're best friend, especially when seeing her for the first time after 3 years?!"

This time he didn't say anything. Evelyn looked at him, expecting some kind of defense.

"Ok," Henry finally stated.

"O..ok? Wait, I win? That's the easiest it's ever been arguing with you and actually winning."

"But if I'm gonna stay here that long you have to show me a good time, I can't just stay cooped up in your apartment like the hermit you are."

"I'm not a hermit, I get out. I have fun here." Evelyn said unconvincingly.

Henry looked at her, "Yea right."

"Hey, it's all because of college. I lost all of my social skills staring at my computer and doing homework 24/7. By the end the only way I kept in contact with friends was via instant messaging. So it's not my fault that I'm socially inept."

"Whatever you want to believe." Henry consoled her while patting her back, to which Evelyn replied by lightly hitting his arm.

* * *

"Here I have some information from Gordon regarding his whereabouts. They know where he is and what he's doing but they don't have much proof so the judge won't grant a search warrant." Rachel stated while handing Batman a file with "The Joker" written on it.

They stood on the balcony of her office building. The moonlight accentuated the silhouette of their figures while standing in the dark night among the grand high rise buildings.

"And they're sure he's there?" He inquired.

"Yes and with other men he's hired to do the little despicable deeds. We don't know why he's been doing this. The only thing that I believe can best explain this is that he's lost mental stability. He doesn't have any specific motives like anyone else you've fought before. He's psychotic, disturbed, and a sick man. You can't really predict what he'll do next, so…be careful."

"I'll be fine." Batman stated without any emotion and flew off.

* * *

"This is the café that I came to with Rachel the first night I was here." Evelyn said in between sipping her chai.

"How is Rachel? I remember you told me both of you got pretty close." Henry asked.

"Yea, we are close." Evelyn said half heartedly.

"But…."

Evelyn sighed, "Lately she's been different; as if she's hiding something from me, you know, and she tries to play it off by…being distant….. I don't know what to do."

"Hey," Henry put his hand on hers, "if she really is hiding something from you, it's probably to protect you from something. I'm sure she knows what she's doing and she'll tell you when she thinks it to be the right time."

Evelyn looked up from his hand covering hers, to his eyes, "Well well Mr. Flanagan you seem to know Rachel pretty well, especially not having met her even once."

"Well Evelyn, you pick you're friends very well, I mean look at me." Henry said proudly, "Seriously though, I think you should just trust her. If you both are as good of friends as you said, then I'm sure she's doing what's best for you."

Evelyn just looked at him, as if amazed at the words he had just said.

"You always seem to put things in perspective and make 'em simpler than they are," she had forgotten how helpful his advice always was, "thanks."

It seemed as if they had spent hours looking at each other.

"We should go now." Henry finally said.

Evelyn nodded as she got up out of her seat.

* * *

_Bang! Bang!_

Gun shots resounded in the streets. Men dressed in black clothing were running from something with such fear in their eyes that they kept shooting randomly towards the sky. Bystanders quickly placed themselves against the wall, to get out of their way, but stared with confusion as to whom these criminals were shooting at.

Evelyn and Henry stepped out of the café, when they noticed the men running towards them. Henry grabbed her and pulled her against the café window and blocked her with himself. They both stared while the men ran past them.

"You still think this place is amazing?" Evelyn inquired.

Henry looked at her and then smiled a little before they heard a loud thud. Both turned towards the direction in which the men had ran, and now saw Batman standing over one of the men with the gun thrown a few feet away from them.

Evelyn couldn't revert her eyes, she was standing near Batman….Bruce. All she wanted was to hug him.

_Yea hug him while he's beating up thugs, great idea Evelyn. _

Everything that had happened between them suddenly surged up in her thoughts. Apparently it showed on her face, because Henry was now looking at her intently. He couldn't understand why she kept looking at Batman, when Evelyn abruptly turned to find him looking at her. They faces were barely inches apart. It just reminded her of the first time she had been that close to Batman. She had been able to see into his eyes, into his soul, just as she was looking into Henry's right now. She had been able to see the determination that sat in his soul in that moment, but she saw something else in Henry's eyes. Something she couldn't understand right now.

_Bang!_

Another gun shot.

Evelyn and Henry looked over to Batman and saw that another man had showed up and tried to shoot at Batman, but he was okay.

As if his suit at blocked the bullet, Batman headed towards the second man and grabbed him by his collar and flew up towards the top of the building.

They heard more gun shots and suddenly a figure falling towards the ground.

_Oh my god!_

"I didn't know Batman killed people." Henry said in shock.

"He doesn't." Evelyn said with confusion.

The body landed on the ground.

_BATMAN?!?!_

* * *

-_  
_

**Author's Note:** I know this chapter was short, but I will be updating at a quicker rate. Again, sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long, but I had viable excuses.

Please **REVIEW** and add me to your favorites/alert so that you know when I have updated!!! (I will never abandon this story…so keep the lookout for updates).

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(wow i got bored)


	11. The Future?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman Begins or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

_**Read & Review!**_

**No excuse for this delay apart from writer's block. : (**

* * *

_Chapter 10 - The Future?_

-

"What should we do?" Henry asked.

Evelyn looked from Batman's unconscious being to Henry's apprehensive expression, not knowing what to do either.

She looked around, observing her surroundings, knowing that any other enemies of Batman could be nearby. She rushed towards his feet and picked them up, then ushered Henry to mimic her only on the other end.

They both carried the dark knight into the café just as it was closing. Seeing Batman, the owner eagerly unlocked the door and let them enter. They gently laid him on the floor. Evelyn whipped out her cell phone and quickly dialed for the Gordon.

He picked up the phone in one ring, "Gordon."

"This is Evelyn…uh Evelyn Knight. I don't know if you remember, but you helped me find Rachel…." Evelyn ranted on, not realizing what she should be saying in this emergency situation.

"Evelyn…is there a problem?" Gordon asked with a stern voice.

"Yea…sorry. It's Batman. He's unconscious. In front of me. In a café. What --" She could barely finish her "sentence" – if one could call it such – before Gordon interrupted.

"Evey, just calm down. I'll have an ambulance sent over quickly…where are you exactly?"

Evelyn gave him the information he wanted, calmly, and hung up her phone. She saw that the owner was also on the phone, and one could conclude he was speaking to his wife. Informing her that he would be home late, not forgetting to stress the fact that he was aiding Batman.

In the time Evelyn was talking on her phone, Henry, who had gone over in a corner of the café, was also talking to someone on his own phone. Evelyn stared intently until a movement beneath her hand brought her attention back towards Batman.

He mumbled something incomprehensible. Evelyn moved closer and leaned towards his mouth. She felt a magnetic force pulling her towards him, almost as if she wasn't in control of herself anymore. He lay beneath her, in all peacefulness but also in pain. She wanted to help him get rid of the pain, help him in anyway possible.

"ed…al…." Batman muttered unintelligible syllables.

She leaned in closer.

"alf…" He groaned. "…red….alf ---." His voice becoming a whisper then breaking off.

Evelyn wondered to herself – repeating them in her head…trying to make a word. For a minute, she had almost forgotten that the man lying there was Bruce Wayne, but now she knew. Alfred.

She searched around his sides, looking for some kind of a communicator. A phone or something that could help her get in touch with Alfred. She didn't have his number, so she quickly dialed Rachel's number.

_She must have it._

"Damn it!" She roughly hung up after receiving Rachel's voicemail after continuous ringing; then her eyes went to Henry. He was still on the phone. Evelyn had a quizzical feeling in her stomach arise. Suspicion took over.

_Whom has he been talking to for this long?_

She walked over, but Henry noticed and he quickly hung up before she could hear any of what he was saying.

"Who were you talking to?" She inquired.

Henry smiled, "No one. It was my sister. she wanted to know if I was going to be home in time for her wedding. You know…like every bride, she's going a little crazy, especially calling me at this hour."

Evelyn smiled, to falsely assure him that she wasn't wary.

The sudden appearance of police cars and an ambulance caused the three of them to walk over to Batman.

Gordon rushed into the café, followed by an EMT. Gordon first checked to see if Batman would be okay, and after the EMT guaranteed that he would be fine as soon as they got him to the hospital, he took Evelyn over to the side.

Henry and a police officer followed the stretcher that carried Batman out of the café, while the café owner answered some questions to the police.

"Evey, what were you doing here?" Gordon asked.

She looked from Batman to Gordon, "I was having a drink with a friend, when we stepped outside to leave we saw him – trying to stop a couple of criminals. I don't know who they were or why he was chasing them in the first place. I didn't recognize them."

"That's okay, as long as you can give me some kind of a description. What happened then?"

"Lots of things happened, I can't really recall everything in order, but at some point he and one other guy ended up on the roof of the building next door. Next thing we know, we saw him falling him to the ground. We brought him in here, and that's when I called you."

"Alright. You're gonna have to come down with me so you can give a description to the sketch artist, then I'll take you to the hospital."

Evelyn nodded and followed Gordon out towards his car.

* * *

Gordon's car pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. Evelyn rushed out of the car, forgetting Gordon's presence. By the time he had reached the receptionist, Evelyn was already heading towards the elevator, so he ran to catch up with her. 

He could see her worried countenance, and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He cared about Batman's well being but he saw something else in Evelyn's eyes. Something that revealed how much she cared about him, as if she knew him better than she led on.

Evelyn saw him looking at her and caught herself before her eyes got watery. She wanted to say something to break the silence but her throat was too dry. Once she realized she couldn't hold back the tears, she looked away.

_Ding._

_Thank god. _Evelyn thought.

They entered the elevator followed by various other people who had lined up behind them during the wait. Evelyn was thankful she didn't have to be alone with Gordon in the elevator. She couldn't possibly answer any questions regarding their prior encounter truthfully.

They had to get off on the second floor, so it seemed like they had reached their destination in a millisecond. Evelyn pushed through the crowd and exited the elevator.

_God, I hate enclosed spaces especially when its crowded with other people. _

Evelyn thought to herself, but it was as if Gordon had read her mind.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Gordon suddenly asked.

Evelyn turned with a surprised looked on her face, and saw that he was studying her intently.

"Yea…a little." Evelyn stated softly.

"So where is he?"

"In room 203," she said while looking at all of the rooms.

As they walked down the corridor, they saw that they were at the opposite end of the room they were searching for.

"Over there." Gordon pointed towards a door on their right.

Evelyn rushed towards the entrance to see nurses and a doctor huddled around the bed. She tried to look around the figures, but was unsuccessful. Gordon passed her and went ahead to see if he could speak to anyone. A doctor then led him and Evelyn out of the room.

"We tried to determine if he had any severe head trauma…a fall from a building that high, I wouldn't expect anything different but all he seems to have is some bleeding. We have bandaged his wound but he is still unconscious –"

"How did you…uh…how did you bandage him without compromising his identity?" Gordon interrupted, while he pointed towards his head.

"Oh don't worry about that. We didn't remove his mask…uh his whole mask. We had to cut off most of it. His wound is located in the back of his head so don't worry about that. We'll make sure no one else interferes with that aspect either." The doctor finished and said that they could see him but made sure the nurses were present in case he was to wake up.

Evelyn walked in and saw him lying in the bed wearing a hospital gown and covered with a blanket up to his chest. He did have part of his black mask covering the top half of his face. It looked kind of ridiculous, as if he was a superhero from a comic book, but she didn't care about that right now. She wondered how long it would take for him to wake up.

* * *

Gordon and Evelyn sat inside the room and just waited patiently. Evelyn sat in a chair in front of the window and looked towards Batman, while Gordon looked back and forth between Batman and Evelyn. Neither had spoken a word since. 

"Evey, you can go home. I need to be here to ask him some questions when he wakes," he looked at his watch, "Its been two hours, you must be tired." Gordon said, seeing that her eyes were barely staying open.

"I am tired but I'm not leaving until he wakes up either." Evelyn looked up at him with an exhausted smile, "Thanks though."

Just then Gordon's phone rang. Picking up his cell phone, he got up and began walking towards the door.

"Gordon," he answered with authority in his voice, as he stepped out of the room.

Evelyn turned her attention back towards the unconscious being in front of her. She wondered what he must be dreaming of right now.

_What's going through his head???_

Lost in her thoughts, Evelyn didn't even realize when her eyelids fell, closing the world outside and bringing her into a whole different world.

* * *

It felt like it had been hours until she woke up again. Her body was sore, but the sight in front of her didn't help much either. It was dark with the exception of a ray of light in front of her from a skylight. Evelyn tried to get up but a sharp pain shot through her left arm, causing her to cry out. 

She got up, while holding her left arm with her right hand. Stumbling towards the light, she looked towards her left arm again. This time she saw blood on her shoulder. Evelyn began to panic….

_Blood…blood….BLOOD. Damn it! _

_Why…why am I bleeding?_

It was all over her right hand, her blue top, her hair….everywhere. Not to mention the pain it was causing. The only conclusion she could come to was that she was shot, but no one else was around.

She began to walk around frantically, searching for an escape route. The darkness didn't help, but her pupils adjusted to the darkness allowing her a better sight. Banging on the wall, trying to see if any area of it was hollow, she made her way until she stood in front of what felt like a door. With her right hand she felt midway down the wall to feel for a knob of some kind.

_Oh thank god! _

She turned the knob, but the door stood in place; then with more force Evelyn turned the knob to no avail. Now she was banging on the door, the frenzied movement causing even more pain in her left arm. Tears began to flow.

"Help me!!!! HELP!" Evelyn screamed.

It felt as if she had been screaming for hours, after which she gave up. It had drained most of her strength causing her to collapse on the floor. She could barely keep her eyes open, her limbs were tired of movement and exhaustion overwhelmed her.

_Bang!_

Someone was there. She wasn't alone. On the other side of the door. Barely able to locate her voice…she moved to rest her ear on the door.

_Bang!_

This frightened her to the core. Someone was out there but she didn't want to be near a gun-happy lunatic. Evelyn gathered any strength she had left over and dragged herself over to a perpendicular wall that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She heard someone fiddling with the knob from the other side, but when it didn't open, the person just shot it and kicked the door open. Evelyn feared for her life and hid behind the wall. She waited patiently while trying to calm her ragged breaths.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!"

_That laugh….its the same laugh. It's the same psycho! _

She turned her body to take a peek at the man's face…just to make sure. Slowly, cautiously her view revealed a man dressed in whacky colored suit with green hair and a pale face and _lipstick?_ He laughed again; this time it sent shivers down her spine. Evelyn shifted uncomfortably when she saw he was moving closer towards her. He didn't see her but he was moving towards the wall, taking his time.

"I have proposed my offer to you, but it is your decision to make," his voice dripping with evil intent, "It's quite simple really; money or...well you know what the other choice is. Which would you prefer?"

He held a wide smile on his face. Evelyn saw another shadow following him.

_Who is he talking to?_

When the other person didn't reply, he became impatient, "Come come now, Mr. Flanagan, I don't have all day."

_Flanagan…Henry?!?!?!_

"I already told you, Joker. Why are you asking me again?" Henry stepped into Evelyn's view.

"In this business we need to make sure for everything twice. Now answer me again….please?" The Joker asked, adding the "please" sarcastically.

Henry paused again then stated with a stern voice, "I'll get you what you want, but you know what I want in return. Can you guarantee that?"

The Joker turned with a fake smile and stated in a "humorous" voice, "Henry, Henry, Henry. Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?"

"You mean besides the people you've killed ruthlessly?" Henry asked.

"Oh what do you know." The Joker said with a frustration.

Seeing Henry converse with this ruthless monster had Evelyn unnerved. She winced in pain, having completely forgotten about her wound.

"Ouch!" Evelyn unconsciously cried.

But it had captured the two men's attention, The Joker saw her and so did Henry! They headed towards her with haste. She pulled back behind the wall, hyperventilating, then glanced again, but now she saw an open sky.

_What the hell?!_

Evelyn frantically looked at her surroundings. The wall she was leaning on was gone; the blood on her arm was gone. She wasn't wounded anymore. The Joker and Henry were gone. The room was gone. She was in the middle of an alley. It seemed like dusk. All Evelyn saw were garbage dumpsters and a stray alley cat.

Evelyn decided to run towards the open street behind her and ran as if death itself was chasing her. But no matter how fast she ran, the street didn't seem to get any closer. It was as if she wasn't moving at all. Aggravated and fatigued Evelyn gave up until she heard a whimper.

Evelyn turned to see a body lying on the ground behind her. She hadn't seen it there before, but it was alive. Evelyn rushed towards it and this time she did reach her destination, only to realize that she recognized the victim.

She saw herself lying on the ground, wounded. Blood. Blood had dampened her white blouse and was flowing down the pavement. The dying Evelyn was holding her left arm with her right…._just like before. _But there were lacerations and bruises all over her body. When she reached for the wound to apply pressure in order to block the flow of blood out of her body, the blood kept flowing, the pressure wasn't strong enough. Blood was flowing and she couldn't do anything to help. The other Evelyn was lying on the ground dying, painfully.

"HELP!!! HELP!" Evelyn screamed.

She was suffering and no one was around to help, not even Batman. The blood seemed to get darker and spread even farther over her blouse. Evelyn put her fingers lightly on the wounded Evelyn's wrist to feel for the strength of her pulse. It seemed to get fainter by the second. She knew her other form was dying, a slow and very painful death. She felt so helpless, so useless. Within another second, she was dead.

Evelyn attempted to stand up unsuccessfully, and stumbled instead. Traumatizing would be an understatement. Who could ever say that they had experienced watching them self die right in front of their eyes. She needed to get away, so she began to take small steps backwards. She subconsciously worried that if she attempted to run away too fast, she would be somehow prevented like she was earlier.

Evelyn couldn't look at the corpse – _her_ corpse anymore. She briefly turned around but then had to turn to see if what she had experienced was real. When she shut her eyelids, tears trailed down her cheeks, and she turned around slowly. Opening her eyes, Evelyn saw that it was darker now, the dumpsters were gone and there was no sky. She was in a cave. The corpse was gone.

_What the hell is going on?!_

She heard a consistent loud noise from behind her, and turned to see a waterfall. Evelyn looked around her, trying to figure out where she was now and caught a glimpse of a little clue. Evelyn slowly headed towards it, to make sure it was what she thought, because the darkness didn't help her sight.

The object became larger and larger the closer Evelyn approached. She was right…it was the Batmobile. She was in Batman's hideout…which was where?! Evelyn looked around to see if she could find Batman or anyone else for that matter, even Alfred. Alas, to her disappointment she didn't see anyone. Evelyn now waited for something else to happen, to be taken somewhere else.

She didn't know what was going on, but nothing really seemed to surprise her anymore. Lost in her thoughts, she barely heard the clunk behind her. She turned to see a figure heading towards her. Evelyn focused her sight on the silhouette, attempting to guess who it might be, but wasn't successful until the figure approached her until he was barely inches in front of her.

_Bruce._

"Evelyn?!" Bruce asked, surprised to see her.

Evelyn wasn't able to bring any words to her lips, she just kept looking at him. She furrowed her brows, and parted her lips, still hoping that some sound would emerge from her throat.

Nothing.

"Evelyn, how – what…what are you doing here? HOW did you get here?" Bruce bombarded her with questions, with fear and confusion clearly present in his voice. Evelyn didn't know how to explain herself. What would she say?

"I don't know…. I don't know how I got here, or what here is? – what are you doing here?"

Now Bruce was in her place, how would he explain himself without divulging the truth. Wasn't this why he had pushed her away earlier in the first place? Was that all for nothing? Her tears, his pain. Lost in thoughts of his personal life, it suddenly dawned on him that she had been facing his Batmobile. Had she seen it?! Of course if she had, she'd know what this place was – she wasn't stupid. He didn't know how to ask her, but luckily she spoke up first.

"Bruce, are you okay?" Evelyn asked with a worried look. She unconsciously lifted her hand up, wanting to touch his face, but quickly pulled back.

This didn't go unnoticed with Bruce, he wanted to touch her too, but as of right now, he didn't know what would be rational.

"Yea, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" He looked a little puzzled at her question.

"I just…last time I saw you – you…oh nevermind, but you're sure you're okay?"

"Evelyn, are you okay?"

"I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I mean one minute I'm in a dark room, the next I'm in an alley, and now I'm here. What's going on – I have no idea what the hell is going!" Evelyn just kept ranting and yelling.

Bruce thought if he didn't stop her, she'd go insane.

"Evelyn! Evelyn!" He put his hands on her arms to keep her from flailing them and moving. "Evelyn, calm down."

Evelyn paused then nodded in consensus.

" I just – I don't know what to do right now. Where am I?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"I want to tell you, but I don't know if I should." Bruce answered looking down on the floor and everywhere else except her eyes.

Evelyn knew where she was but she wanted to know geographically where they were currently standing. Were they still in Gotham or were they somewhere else?

"Bruce," Evelyn brought her hand up to let his eyes meet hers, "you don't have to explain. Trust me and let me trust you."

He didn't answer her with words, instead he leaned his face into hers. Evelyn made no retreat; she had been waiting for so long for him to take her again. She wanted to feel his lips on hers again ever since they had first kissed and now here was the opportunity. Before she could think another word, she felt it. The spark that fled through her from the lips that kissed hers. She didn't waste any time, she opened her lips and allowing him to enter. Bruce was lost in another world where he felt as if all of his wishes were coming true. A place where he didn't have to hide his identity, where there was justice for every living being, where he had the life he always wished for – with a loving family. All of this just from her kiss. What was it about her that made him feel this way?

He brought his arms around her, one around her waist and one hand behind her head – pushing her closer into him. He didn't want to let go of her. He felt her hands behind his neck, one playing with his hair and the other just placed on his neck. Neither of them knew their surroundings as of right now. All they knew were that they were in each others arms, where they had longed to be for weeks.

The kiss was getting intense as they began to move towards the nearest wall. Bruce's weight pushed her into the wall while he continued to ravage her mouth. He pulled away, but not moving his body weight off of hers, and began to make his way from her jaw line down to her neck. He sucked on her skin, marking her for the world to know. Even if he couldn't officially be with her, he wanted to make her his in his own way.

Evelyn just moaned at the heightening sensations she felt within her. She moved her hands to feel him all over, get as much of him as she could. She felt his teeth biting into her neck, but her back wasn't against a wall anymore. Evelyn was falling back now, but when she opened her eyes to see Bruce she didn't see anything but darkness surrounding her. She wasn't in the cave anymore. Evelyn just kept falling faster and farther into the darkness.

Evelyn jolted in her chair causing her to wake up from her slumber. She looked around rapidly seeing that she wasn't in darkness anymore but in the hospital room across from where she had been earlier, waiting for Bru – Batman. She turned to her right in search of Lt. Gordon but saw an empty chair, after which she turned towards the bed in front of her; hoping he was feeling better, but saw an empty bed.

_Where the hell is everyone?!_

She quickly got up and walked towards the door, to see nurses and doctors walking past her without a word. Evelyn grabbed a nurse and anxiously asked, "Where is Batman?! He was here before, but he isn't anymore. Was he discharged? And –"

"Wait, what do you mean he's not in there anymore?" The nurse suddenly asked.

"Look hes not here." Evelyn stated while she guided the nurse into the room to find an empty bed.

The nursed pushed the emergency button and bolted out the door screaming other names, while doctors rushed into the room. Evelyn didn't know what to do.

_Where is he? And where's Lt. Gordon?  
_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the very late update – as I said earlier I had writer's block and I wanted to make this chapter longer than the one before. So please review – I didn't get many reviews in the last chapter so I want more on this one. I just want to know that you guys still like this story – so I'll keep updating. As soon as I go back to college (in a couple of weeks) I'll be updating at a quicker rate – honestly. 

So **REVIEW PLEASE!**

**-**


	12. Roses are Red

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

_**Read & Review**_

Sorry for the super-super long delay in updating this story. I actually did write another chapter (a couple of versions) but it didn't feel right and I didn't like it. So I partially gave up.

BUT your constant reviews and requests for updates encouraged me to compromise with my momentary lack of creativity and write….

* * *

_**Chapter 11 – Roses are Red**_

-

-

Alfred stood silent next to the large bed that was currently occupied by the ailing Bruce. The nightstand was flooded with pills, glasses of water, bandages, ointments, and what vaguely looked like a badge with the word 'VISITOR' inscribed on it. The elderly man's arms were crossed tightly against his chest, as if the grips of his fingers were keeping him from falling apart. His eyes were brimming with tears that threatened to overflow any moment. He had been standing there for over an hour now, waiting for the prone figure to move. His feet were sore; his body aching for rest, but he did not move from his spot.

This was not something new for Alfred, waiting endlessly to assure himself that Bruce would be alright, and it was not something he would stop doing. As much as he opposed the physical brutality Bruce had to experience through the guise of Batman, Alfred admired the courage and altruism through which he was able to help so many. But nights like these, Alfred despised what Bruce had chosen as his livelihood. He hated what Batman did to Bruce's mental and physical wellbeing.

_How much more can you possibly endure…?_

"Alfred?"

Alfred turned towards the voice to find Rachel standing at the entrance of the room, "Miss Dawes."

Rachel sighed at the sight of Bruce, who was still unconscious, and leaned on the large oak doors for support, "Any improvement?"

"His fever has decreased, but—" Alfred looked back down.

Rachel straightened herself and walked over to pull Alfred into an embrace. She held him tight against herself, realizing that she needed this closeness more than he did.

"It'll be okay," her voice strained as she spoke.

Alfred pulled away and looked down at her face, seeing the fresh tears that flowed down her cheeks, "Miss Dawes, if you fall apart, who the bloody hell is going to keep me together."

Rachel laughed at his comment as she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Her gaze traveled to her best friend who now looked the most vulnerable she had ever witnessed him to be, "How did you bring him back here from the hospital, Alfred?"

Alfred looked down at Bruce once more as he recollected his memories of the distress call he had received two hours earlier.

Ring! Ring!

_The phone rang impatiently._

"_Hello, sir?" _

"_Alfre—," Bruce stumbled as he spoke, "I need you to come get me—_

"_Of course and where shall I receive you?" Alfred asked, his calm voice betrayed his feelings of complete apprehension._

"_Gotham General…I'm—" The phone disconnected._

"_Sir? Master Wayne?!" Alfred yelled into the phone, fearing the worst. _

_He rushed to Gotham General, carrying with him any kind of sedative or medication he might need. It was not until he had reached the entrance of the hospital and noticed the auxiliary desk that he realized Bruce would be here as Batman not Bruce Wayne. _

_Knowing the receptionist would not allow him to pass without questions, he walked over calmly to the young lady who occupied the desk, "Excuse me, is there a bathroom I could utilize, please?" _

_The young lady, whose nametag read Amy, looked wary as she pointed to her left, "It'll be on your left as you walk down the hallway." _

_Alfred smiled as he began to step away. _

"_Um, you're going to need this," Amy held up a VISITOR badge with #32 laminated on it. _

"_Oh, is this necessary? I'll only be a minute." Alfred asked innocently. _

"_Yes," Amy stood from her seat and clipped the badge onto Alfred's coat, "It is." _

_Alfred looked at the badge then her, "Thank you." _

_He walked down the hallway and found the elevator._

Which floor?

_Standing in complete confusion, Alfred looked around and spotted a Gotham city police officer walking rather imperturbably with coffee in one hand and a walky-talky in the other. _

_Alfred quickly turned on his heel and walked swiftly into a perpendicular hallway. He cursed to himself realizing he was losing time. He continued to walk quickly until he noticed a stairwell and pulled himself in. He looked up at the multiple steps and mumbled something about not exercising enough. Nonetheless, he began climbing. _

_Reaching the seventh floor was painful, and not knowing whether this was closer to Bruce made it even worse. He leaned against the walls for support as he filled his lungs with deep breaths. _

"_Come on you old man, pull yourself together!" He motivated himself as he resumed his climbing. _

_One foot in front of the other, left then right, and that's when he heard something. He paused to listen. It was a faint voice. Fearing it was the police officer, he ran up the stairs, until the voice called again. It was louder this time._

"_Alfred!" _

_Realization dawned on him, "Master Wayne!" _

Alfred had found Bruce, barely conscious and half dressed, lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs on the ninth floor. After sneaking Bruce out of the hospital through the emergency exit doors, he brought him back to the mansion only to have him lying unconscious until now.

"He's really luck to have you Alfred." Rachel interrupted his thoughts.

Alfred made a move to distance himself from the situation when he saw something that stopped him from turning away. He saw Bruce's eyes flutter as he groaned. Alfred and Rachel both rushed to his side.

"Bruce?" Rachel spoke softly, afraid that she might be imagining this.

* * *

After most of the medical staff on the second floor of the hospital had converged around the room to see what had happened to Batman, the doctor called Lt. Gordon.

"He said he'll be here in 20 minutes." The doctor informed Evelyn, while she still looked towards the bed, wondering where he could have gone.

_Of course…home. _

"Is there any danger of his injuries getting worse because he left without the proper treatment?" She inquired the doctor.

He thought for a moment, "Well, he obviously was stable enough to get out of bed and walk – or fly – out of here without any help. The only worry I would have is his head injury exacerbating if he doesn't take it easy. We would've given him more painkillers and monitored his vitals if he had stayed," the doctor gazed toward the empty bed, "hopefully he'll be alright."

Evelyn thanked him for his help and sighed, wondering what else was going to take place tonight. The sun hadn't even come up and she had only gotten maybe a couple hours of sleep. Evelyn looked at the clock again, 4:47 am, and decided she was going to leave. All she had waiting for her was an interrogation by Lt. Gordon and no whereabouts of Batman.

_I wonder why Rachel didn't call – I would've thought that she would be worried, if not about me then definitely about Bruce….unless…._

She grabbed her purse and rushed out of the hospital room, keeping a lookout for Lt. Gordon and herself inconspicuous. Luckily she was out of the hospital doors without being interrupted – she walked down the sidewalk, seeing any cars pass by occasionally and homeless people warming their hands above a fire lit in garbage bins. It suddenly hit her, it was 4:47 am and she was alone in the middle of Gotham.

_Shit!_

There was no way she was going to take the monorail back home unless she wanted to die. A beam of light turned around the corner at the end of the street, a taxi. Evelyn waved her arm to hail it to a stop, but it passed her. Her eyes glanced hopelessly in all directions looking for any signs of a savior.

_A savior…if only._

She had an inkling of why Rachel never called her to inquire about her or Batman – she was with him. Maybe Rachel was able to somehow get help from Alfred to help Batman leave before his identity was compromised. Getting impatient and a bit fearful, she looked at her watch once more, 4:58 am.

Evelyn was about to head back into the hospital – maybe she'd still be able to catch Lt. Gordon and he could take her home.

_Honk! Honk!!_

Startled, Evelyn turned abruptly to see a strong beam of blinding light. She defensively brought her forearm up to block her eyes from intense pain when the car stopped next to her and the windows rolled down to reveal its operator.

"Evelyn get in," a worried voice directed her as she bent down to get a better look.

"Henry?"

Seeing his face brought back a sudden flash of images from the dream. Evelyn had clearly seen him talking to the Joker as his partner in crime.

_How can I trust him? He was my best friend, could any of what I saw be true?_

Evelyn hesitated opening the car door – the suspicious phone call, the dream, the Joker – everything was telling her not to get into the car. But she realized that she didn't have a safer option.

Evelyn avoided Henry's gaze as she looked out the window only to see alleys passing by them. It triggered the images of her dying. The bloodied shirt and her lifeless eyes staring back at her. The thought of her death forced her to look at Henry. He was there. He was the one standing in the same room as the Joker. She wanted to be disgusted by him, detest him for associating himself with those who tried to kill Rachel, but she couldn't do it. This was her friend, her confidant, how could she bring herself to believe what she had seen.

Deeply conflicted and disturbed, Evelyn shook her head and looked out the window once more. This time she thought of the last dream she had – the one of her and Bruce. A sad smile crept on her face but vanished just as quickly. What did any of this signify? Would Bruce confide in her? Had she earned his trust? Or would their association only lead to tragic loss?

They sat in complete silence as Henry drove to her home. Evelyn had too many thoughts running through her mind to make small talk – she wanted to know if he had anything to do with the Joker, but she needed to be tactful.

"How's Batman?"

His voice brought her out of her stupor, "Hmm? Oh…supposedly he'll be okay – that's what the Doctor says."

She lied. She didn't even tell him Batman wasn't even in the hospital anymore. But what if the Joker was using Henry to get to Batman? There was no way she was going to help him.

Henry looked at her incredulously, "What? You don't believe him?"

"Believe who?"

"The Doctor, Evelyn."

Evelyn finally turned to look at him, "He fell off a building, Henry; I don't think even Batman can recover quickly from that."

He responded with a smirk.

"Where were you all night Henry?" She asked cautiously, wondering whether he was meeting with the Joker while she was in the hospital.

"Missing me already?" He asked sarcastically.

Evelyn didn't find it amusing.

He became serious, "I went to the hospital with Batman and got him admitted – didn't really need to do much considering everyone knew who he was – and then the police took me to station to question me about everything. I saw you leaving the station and when you didn't pick up my phone calls at your apartment, I realized you were probably at the hospital with Lt. Gordon."

Evelyn nodded slowly, realizing he wouldn't be able to lie about that and get away with it. Every time she looked at him now, she didn't see her old college buddy anymore – no, she saw an enigma that didn't want to be solved.

"We're here." He stated as he pulled in front of her apartment building.

"Where are you staying?" Evelyn asked as she removed her seatbelt.

"At the Marriot down the block from here," he watched as she slowly made her way out of the car, "call me if you need anything Evelyn."

Evelyn turned when she shut the door and answered through the open window, "Sure."

And she walked away.

* * *

"When did you get here?" Bruce asked in a raspy voice, once they were alone in the room.

"Alfred called me as soon as he brought you home," Rachel placed a hand on top of his as she absorbed every detail of his face.

Bags had formed underneath his eyes since the last time they had met. His usually well brushed hair was unkempt. And maybe it was because Rachel hadn't seen him in anything but a suit in a while, but she was sure there were more bruises and cuts on his arms than usual. He looked exhausted and drained of the Bruce-Wayne-unperturbed persona he was so well known to carry.

"Do I look that bad?" Bruce asked with a sly smile.

Rachel smiled in return, "Are you kidding me? This is the best you've ever looked."

Bruce struggled to laugh as he coughed. There was a short silence as Rachel looked around while Bruce straightened his posture, leaning his back onto the headboard.

"I saw Evelyn in the hospital room when I was leaving."

Rachel suddenly turned to meet his eyes, "Evelyn? She was—what was she doing there?"

Before Bruce could reply, Alfred walked in with a tray in hand. "Sir, sorry to interrupt, but it's time for you to take more medication."

Rachel stood up as Alfred approached them, "I'll be back – I just need to make a phone call."

Bruce watched her swiftly walk out of the room, holding her cell phone in one hand and impatiently pushing the keys. He knew she was rushing to call Evelyn, to make sure she was okay, but Rachel wasn't the only one who worried for her. His thoughts drifted to the moment he had found himself in the hospital.

_Bruce opened his eyes to see he was lying in bed but it wasn't his bed. His sight was blurred by the bright florescent light, but he could tell that the walls were the wrong color to be his room. Bruce studied his surroundings and hearing the heart monitor beep next to him, he realized he was in a hospital room. _

_He felt something resting on his face. He moved his hands to find that part of his headgear was covering the top half of his face. Bruce wanted to remove it but let it be in case someone walked into the room. He lifted himself up by the strength of his arms to find a figure with long dark waves of hair sitting next to him. His head throbbed in pain as he shifted; but the more he blinked, the clearer the image became. _

_Evelyn was deep in slumber; her body lying crooked in the small confines of the chair. Her head tipped to her side letting her hair fall in front of her face. Bruce moved towards her, leaving the sheets ruffled on the mattress, and lifted his hand to remove the dark strands from her face to reveal the soft skin underneath. He lingered in that position for a few minutes, until he heard muffled voices outside the door. Bruce swiftly moved to the door and heard two male voices conversing, but it was incomprehensible to him. He moved back and searched the room for his belongings, gathering Batman's gear and the torn body armor into his arms, and he made his way toward the door. _

_Bruce looked back at Evelyn's sleeping figure once more before he left. She readjusted herself in the chair and groaned in the process. Bruce smiled as he saw her facial expression reflect her uncomfortable position. He contemplated moving her to the bed, but didn't want to risk waking her. _

_The voices on the other side of the door seemed to cease allowing Bruce to make his escape. He moved discreetly through the hallways, avoiding the cameras and nurses who were on their graveyard shift. But once he made his way into a stairwell, his head began throbbing once more. The pain was unbearable. He grasped his head in his hands but in the process dropping his affects. Bruce stood still as he tried to regain his orientation, but the lightheaded sensation prevented him from being able to make a step without fumbling. He grunted in pain as he searched for his communicator. Bruce needed help; he needed Alfred. _

"Master Wayne," Alfred began as he offered Bruce a glass of water, "If you don't mind my suggesting, I think it would best if you acquired your much needed rest. The anniversary party tonight can be postponed."

Bruce did not heed attention until the words "party" and "postponed" were processed in his mind.

"No," he sternly objected as he removed the comforter.

"But Master Wayne—

"My father initiated this occasion to celebrate what he saw as a means for helping Gotham," Bruce attempted to step out of the bed, "I'm not going to disrupt the tradition."

He tried to stand without help but stumbled and almost fell until Alfred reached out to support his weight.

"You're father was never as obstinate as you are." Alfred stated dryly as he helped Bruce walk.

"I wonder where I got that character trait." Bruce smirked.

* * *

Evelyn rushed into her apartment building, only looking back to see if Henry had left once she reached the warmth of the lobby. The night guard, Cliff, greeted her with a smile as she made her way to the elevators, which took her to the fifth floor.

_Ring! Ring!_

Evelyn jerked at the sharp noise of her cell phone, having forgotten that she was carrying it with her. She removed it from her coat pocket and saw the caller identification list: _Rachel Dawes. _

"Hello."

"Evelyn, are you alright?" Rachel asked warily.

"Yea," Evelyn said softly, wondering if she should ask about Bruce, "Where are you?"

She knew very well where Rachel was, but she wanted to hear her answer – would she lie?

"I'm at work – have a tough case ahead of me and I need to be prepared."

_She's lying._

"Are you sure you're alright?" Rachel asked anxiously.

Evelyn noted the apprehension in her voice, "Yea, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Rachel ignored her question, "Where are you right now?"

"I'm in our apartment building – what's going on Rachel? Why are you—

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Rachel interrupted calmly.

"Really…?" Evelyn was annoyed by the false reassurance Rachel had started provided lately, "That's all you wanted to ask?"

"Yea."

"Yea…I find that hard to believe." Evelyn walked down the hallway of her apartment floor.

"And why is that?" Rachel asked, a little offended.

"Besides the fact that you've been keeping everything at arms-length lately, the obvious question that jumps out is what made you think that I would be out at this hour or even in danger?"

Evelyn paused for a response but all she received was silence so she continued, "You know what—just forget it."

She removed her keys from her purse once she had reached her apartment door, "You're going to continue keeping secrets…and all I can do is hope that you're using your best judgment. Bye."

"Wait! Evelyn," Rachel stopped her from hanging up.

"What?" Evelyn asked as she opened the door and turned on the lights, "Oh my god!"

"What happened?!" Rachel exclaimed, not being able to see what Evelyn was seeing.

In front of Evelyn's eyes was a room filled entirely with red roses. Vases of red roses were resting along the kitchen counters and tables. Only minuscule spots of the beige carpeting showed among the numerous rose petals that were strewn about the floor in every direction. Single roses rested in random places throughout the room.

A little dazed but mostly curious, Evelyn walked around the room not believing all of the red she was seeing.

"Evelyn?!"

Evelyn jumped at the loud voice in her ear.

"What happened?"

"I—uh," Evelyn couldn't form the words, "Um, did you happen to come in here and go a little crazy with flowers?"

"What are you talking about?" Rachel asked with a bemused expression.

"Our living room is filled with roses." Evelyn stated frankly.

"Roses?"

"Yea," Evelyn stated as she moved around slowly trying not to step on the petals which proved to be quite impossible, but stopped when she noticed a white card from the corner of her eyes.

She reached for it and pulled it out of the bouquet that rested on the coffee table. Evelyn saw something written in red ink.

_**A thorn defends the rose, **_

_**harming only those who would steal the blossom.**_

"Who sent them?" Rachel asked.

She flipped the note in her hand and back, "No idea."

-

* * *

**Author's Note:** Now that I've gained my momentum once more, hopefully we'll see quicker (much quicker) updates.

Please **REVIEW **to let me know what you guys thought of this chapter - every aspect including expectations. I always try to improve my style of writing for you and myself. 

**P.S. Joker will most probably start becoming an integral part of this storyline in the next chapter. **

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	13. False Security

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman or any of its characters from the movies you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

**Read & Review**

Another update!!

* * *

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_**Chapter 12 – False Security **_

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Rachel unlocked the front door and set her sights on the extravagant embellishment in front of her. She walked cautiously ahead, eyeing every rose, every petal with interest. Her fingertips grazed the single roses that were gracefully scattered about to assure herself that they were real. Once she had reached the other end of the room, she sat down on the couch and continued to ponder as to who could've sent them.

Honestly, when Evelyn had first mentioned that their room was occupied by roses, Rachel's first thoughts went to Harvey. Harvey Dent, the District Attorney – the man who wasn't afraid of confronting mobsters and dealing with it the legal way. They had been involved with each other for quite a while, but unofficially. It wouldn't be proper for the D.A. and Assistant D.A. to be dating while working together constantly. But Rachel had a feeling that Evelyn knew about their clandestine relationship, even though neither had ever discussed it explicitly.

A rectangular white object lying on the coffee table suddenly caught Rachel's attention. She reached for it and saw that it had something written on it. Expecting a romantic message from Harvey, Rachel was puzzled when she read the actual content. She flipped the card similar to the way Evelyn had and found herself disappointed when there was no name written on it. Feeling too fatigued to decipher the note, she placed it back on the coffee table and made her way towards her bedroom.

Assuming Evelyn was asleep, Rachel tip toed to her room, careful not to step on any of the bouquets that were lined along the hallway. When she reached her room and switched on the artificial light, an object reflected brightly on the floor of her doorway. Rachel faced down to look at the source of the reflection to find another card placed strategically in front of her feet.

***

Some time later, Evelyn stirred awake in her bed with a firm grip on the sheets that provided her warmth. It was still quite dark in her room. She felt refreshed as she finally removed her arms from underneath the covers to stretch. As she sat up to lean back against the pillows, she questioned her rejuvenated state given the fact that she had only slept for a short amount of time.

_The sun isn't even up yet._

Evelyn thought as she looked from the closed window curtains to the alarm clock on her nightstand. Her body became stiff as she read the numbers, 9:56. As soon as her mind registered the current time, she jumped to the opposite side of her bed and ran towards the window, leaving half of the bed covers on the floor. Her hands impatiently pushed the curtains apart to reveal the cloudy weather outside. Evelyn sighed as she realized she had slept in for work. As her thoughts lingered on her irresponsible act, her head began to throb mercilessly. She attempted to walk it off, but it only worsened until she finally gave up. Walking over to her nightstand, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Lucius Fox's number.

Evelyn sluggishly stepped out of her room in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes to wake herself up. Seeing the redness before her made her groan as she remembered the events of the early morning, but now the roses were all gathered into a corner and the petals were gone.

"Who the hell sent these flowers?" Evelyn stated groggily to herself.

"Harvey did."

"Jesus!" Startled by the unexpected voice from behind her, Evelyn jumped around to see Rachel standing in the kitchen.

"Sorry," Rachel apologized while holding in her laughter.

"Yea, very funny," Evelyn said as she tried to lower her heart rate, "Give me a heart attack right here."

Rachel laughed as she moved around the counter to pull out a chair from the dining table, "Here, sit down."

Evelyn looked at her quizzically, "Why?"

"Just sit down," Rachel requested as she moved towards the counters once more.

Evelyn slowly sat down and noticed the silverware placed before her. She finally looked up to find Rachel bringing two plates over to the table. She raised her eyebrows at the plate full of blueberry pancakes, "Breakfast?"

Rachel placed one plate in front of her, sat down with the other plate and promptly began eating with no response.

"Breakfast?" Evelyn asked a little louder this time.

Rachel pulled her head up to see that Evelyn hadn't even touched her food, "Yes, breakfast. Eat it before it gets cold."

But Evelyn continued her interrogation, "Why did you make breakfast? You never make breakfast."

Rachel sighed as she finally put down her knife and fork, "Consider it a…peace offering."

Evelyn raised her eyebrows once more, "For the past couple of days?"

Rachel nodded, "Yes."

"For being so terribly hard to talk to?"

"Yea," Rachel replied solemnly.

"In short, for being a bitc—

"Yes!"

"You're forgiven," Evelyn stated with a large smile, as she finally cut into the pancakes. She 'Hmm'ed and moaned with every bite, "How did you know I liked blueberry pancakes?"  
Rachel shrugged, "I didn't. I like blueberry pancakes."

Once they had both finished, Evelyn patted her stomach, "Oh, I ate too much."

Rachel smiled as she picked up both of their plates and headed into the kitchen.

"Thanks," Evelyn stated sitting back in her chair, "for everything."

Rachel quietly continued rinsing the dishes. Evelyn noticed Rachel seemed to be quieter than usual – most of the time she would go on about some case she was working on, or how Gotham could get better if everyone only pulled their share of the responsibility. But today, right now, Rachel said nothing and Evelyn didn't make a comment. She turned forward and looked at the collection of roses, "So Harvey sent these, huh?"

That seemed to have caught her attention. Rachel swiftly looked up at Evelyn, "Yea."

"How did you find out though? The only thing I found was a card with no name."

"Oh, I found another card right when I was going to bed – it had Harvey's name on it." Rachel smiled, "Sorry I never explicitly stated we were together. I just—

"It's okay, I knew," Evelyn smirked, "All those 'late nights' at work and over the weekends. I mean I knew you were a hard worker, but this was too much even for you. And the way you talked about him—believe me it wasn't that hard to deduce. Speaking of which shouldn't you be at work right now…working on that tough case you had?"

Evelyn knew Rachel had lied to her the night before when she was actually at Bruce's, but the words blurted out of her mouth. A part of her wanted to hear how Rachel would reply, would she lie again or would she finally tell the truth? But then again, Evelyn hadn't been completely innocent either. She had started this charade by not being straightforward the night Rachel had almost died. Evelyn's conscious craved to tell Rachel everything, to trust her – but would that trust be reciprocated? Or would Rachel convict her as insane when Evelyn told her about the dreams?

"I could ask you the same thing." Rachel replied to her question.

Evelyn registered her comment, "I called in sick."

"I'm going in later on today, but right now, we're going shopping." Rachel stated nonchalantly.

"Shopping?" Evelyn asked as she stood out of her chair, heading back to her room to take a shower.

"Did you forget?" Rachel asked, amusement lacing every word.

Evelyn turned to face her friend with a bemused look.

Rachel continued, "About the Wayne Enterprises anniversary party tonight?"

Evelyn's eyes widened, "Oh, that's tonight isn't it?!"

The events of the past couple of days made her completely disregard the major occasion. But Bruce—how could he attend—unless he was feeling better. A smile unconsciously formed on Evelyn's face.

"So," Rachel brought her attention back as she walked over to the couch to grab her coat, "are you coming?"

* * *

Having finished shopping for the day, Evelyn and Rachel were exhausted. They sat down at a table in an upscale coffee place, which had recently opened, to regain their energy.

"This is interesting. I would go order something for us but I have no idea where to start." Evelyn said as she observed the convoluted method for ordering unique flavored coffee or tea.

"It's alright; we can wait a little bit right? I'm expecting someone."

Evelyn turned to face Rachel, "Someone else? Is it Harvey?"

"I'm surprised you already forgot my name, Evelyn."

Evelyn turned towards the deep voice that originated behind her, "Bruce?"

Bruce stood smiling at both of them, "Sorry I'm a little late, traffic was murder." He took his seat next to Rachel and across from Evelyn, leaving one empty seat at their square table.

"It's alright." Rachel said before she got up to go order her coffee, "What do you guys want?"

Evelyn was uncomfortable sitting across from him, where he could see her every expression; and she was upset with Rachel for not telling her beforehand. But she couldn't blame Rachel— she didn't know anything about what had happened between them.

"It's okay, I'll go get it myself." Evelyn made a move to stand up before Rachel stopped her.

"No, it's okay. What do you want?"

Evelyn looked at her then Bruce who carried his usual charming smile, "A cappuccino."

"Nothing for me, thanks." Bruce said as he waved his hand.

_If he doesn't want anything, then why is he here? _

With that Rachel made her way to the order line, which looked very long indeed. Evelyn inwardly groaned in frustration at being left alone with Bruce. She feared an awkward conversation awaited her when she would turn towards Bruce again. She realized this was the first time she and Bruce were alone since their conversation in the hallway, when she had declined to go to the party with him.

"You're coming to the party tonight aren't you Evelyn?" Bruce asked.

Evelyn looked up, wondering why he was being so nonchalant about the matter, as if nothing had transpired between them, "Yea, I'm coming."

Evelyn wished she had a glass of water to quench the sudden dryness that had formed in her throat. She was trying to interpret the way he was acting towards her. Was it because she had turned him down? Was it because he was trying to exude his Bruce Wayne persona? Whatever his reason was, it was irritating Evelyn to no end. She wanted him to be the one who had kissed her so lovingly that night in the hospital or the one she had witnessed in her dream. She couldn't stand this version of Bruce, who pretended as if he had no care in the world.

"Haven't seen you in a while – I'll have to make time so we can work on the project." Bruce casually mentioned the assignment on which they would both have to work very closely.

She had been observing her surroundings but now looked up to see Bruce looking right at her. As soon as their eyes made contact, the air grew colder causing the hair to be raised on her arms.

"I'm sure we'll find time," Evelyn commented, knowing that he had been having a harsh enough time being Batman. She involuntarily crossed her arms across her chest to relieve herself of the cold sensation. Bruce's lips parted to say something else, but stopped when Rachel arrived and placed the cups on the table.

***

Evelyn watched Rachel and Bruce converse lightheartedly, as if he hadn't been lying unconscious in the hospital last night. Evelyn wanted to scream – to tell them both she knew his secret, knew everything.

"Hi, Bruce." A female voice called out.

Evelyn stared in amazement as she saw the tall, beautiful brunette who walked up to their table.

Bruce looked up and a large smile formed on his face, "Hi Adrianna, nice seeing you here," he stood up to place a kiss on her cheeks.

"It certainly is a surprise, I rarely see you out during the day."

Bruce motioned for her to sit in the empty chair, which she gladly heeded, "Took time out for some wonderful friends. This is Rachel and Evelyn."

Adrianna greeted both of them with a smile, and turned back once more to Bruce, "So, tell me Bruce when will you be picking me up tonight?"

Evelyn's ears perked up, but she remained unperturbed. She listened closely to their conversation, to every laugh, giggle and flirty comment she made and he reciprocated. She glanced every now and then and witnessed the playful touches they made. The air suddenly became much thicker, making it hard for Evelyn to breathe. The atmosphere was suffocating, she needed to leave. Like a prayer answered, her phone began to vibrate. She looked down to see Henry's name listed as the caller.

"Excuse me," Evelyn swiftly got up from the table and headed for the doors. Once outside, Evelyn inhaled deeply and regained her regular breathing pattern.

"Hello," she spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Evelyn," Henry began, "I was wondering what you were doing tonight?"

Forgetting any apprehension that she had experienced regarding their friendship, Evelyn quickly asked, "Will-you-come-to-a-party-with-me-tonight?"

Henry didn't respond, causing Evelyn to hit herself when she realized what she had done. She began pacing back and forth, "Henry?"

"Yea, I'll go – are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just come over to my apartment at seven." Evelyn said quickly before she blurted out anything else without second thought, "I'll see you later."

After shutting her phone, Evelyn exhaled and observed her surrounding. People were walking through their fast-paced lives, not giving a second thought to their environment. She envied them – she wanted to get back to her 'boring' yet comfortable life where she didn't have to worry about Bruce or Batman or her bizarre ability to dream the strangest things.

Evelyn turned towards the set of doors that would bring her back to the world from which she had recently escaped. As she made her way back to her table, she saw Rachel and Bruce lean into each other as they spoke inaudibly, with Adrianna now absent. Evelyn slowed her pace, taking her time to observe the two converse. Rachel's gaze did not falter as her mouth moved to form her words and Bruce listened intently. Evelyn came to a stop when she noticed Rachel place a business card sized objected in Bruce's hands.

_What could that be?_

When Evelyn resumed her gait, getting close enough to be in view, Rachel promptly increased the distance between her and Bruce, "Evelyn, was it something important?"

Evelyn took her seat at the table and saw Bruce place the object in his coat pocket, "No, it wasn't important," she calmly stated, pretending as though she had not witnessed their transaction.

_More secrets. What could be so damn important? And Bruce…she had to involve him into this—_

_No._

_Batman – Rachel was talking to Batman, not Bruce. _

"So how have you been Bruce, you look a bit down?" Evelyn inquired tauntingly, knowing fully well the answer to her own question. She didn't know where she had acquired the courage to ask such a question, but maybe it wasn't as much courage as it was stupidity. Seeing the wounded look on his face, Evelyn quickly regretted opening her mouth.

Bruce shifted his eyes, glancing at Rachel who looked equally worrisome, "I just came down with something recently."

"Looks like it's affected you quite a bit." Evelyn wanted to kick herself, why wouldn't she shut up. She looked down as she contemplated why she was doing this; maybe it was jealousy. Evelyn wouldn't admit it to herself, but subconsciously she hated the way he had flirted with Adrianna. She asked herself why Bruce had pushed her away when he had clearly been able to make time for Adrianna. And the answer hit her like a brick wall, he didn't care for her that way – he never had. The kiss was a momentary lapse in judgment for him and he regretted it. Evelyn's chest started feeling tight, making it difficult for her inhale properly. Her vision began to blur by the formation of tears; she needed to leave before they fell. She refused to let him know what kind of affect he had on her.

"I need to go," Evelyn grabbed her purse and stood up, "I forgot I had to—." She couldn't even complete her sentence without her voice betraying her, and she turned away without the slightest glance at either of them.

"Evelyn," Rachel began, "where are you going?"

Evelyn took a deep breath, put a false smile on her face and turned to Rachel (she couldn't even face Bruce right now), "I just forgot I had to go to the bank, and it's going to close soon—so sorry for the abruptness. Bye."

* * *

Putting the last pin in place to keep her wavy yet loose bun from fall apart, Evelyn stared at her reflection in the full length mirror, analyzing every detail of her dress. The floor length black, strapless chiffon gown with a draped, scoop neckline was embroidered and beaded such that it accented her hour-glass figure. From the neckline, the silver embroidery swirled and fell mid-waist where it ended at a wide belt-like beading. The beading and embroidery itself was subtle from a distance, but once inspected closely, it was extravagant. Evelyn almost felt ostentatious wearing a gown such as this and questioned whether she should've chosen one more modest.

_Knock! Knock!_

Brought out of her thoughts, Evelyn headed to open the front door, "Henry, come in."

Henry seemed in awe as he walked in, looking at her up and down, "Ev-you—," he cleared his throat to finish, "you look beautiful."

Evelyn slightly blushed as she reciprocated the feeling, "You don't look so bad yourself." Honestly, he looked amazing in the traditional black suit and skinny tie. Evelyn had never noticed before, but Henry had this old-world charm about him that reflected his chivalrous nature. With his dark, flawlessly brushed hair and alluring smile, he reminded her of Bru—

_No! Don't think about him. _

"I have to go put my earrings in," Evelyn jerked her gaze away before she started giving him the wrong idea. Henry was a friend. Just a friend. She couldn't play with his feelings like Bruce had done with hers.

Henry placed his hands in his pockets while he loitered in her living room. Looking around at random pictures, he smiled as warm thoughts of their college days washed over him. But it soon disappeared when he saw a single vase of red roses, half of which were waiting to bloom, sitting on the coffee table with a small card hidden in it. His inquisitive nature getting the best of him, he pulled it out.

"Okay," Evelyn came out of her room holding a silver clutch, "I'm ready."

Henry turned towards her with the card in hand, "Someone sent you roses?"

"Not me; Rachel. Harvey sent them."

Henry furrowed his eyebrows, "Harvey? Gotham's D.A.? Never took him to be the poetic type."

Evelyn smirked, "Me either."

* * *

They arrived, arm in arm, at the grand ballroom where the party was being held. The large ornate doors opened to reveal a luxurious room filled with numerous people, some of whom were conversing while others were dancing. There was a spiral staircase to the left leading to the second floor, which was also currently filled with people. Evelyn looked around for Rachel who would be here with Harvey, but the crowd prevented her search.

"Do you see Rachel?" Evelyn inquired of Henry, seeing as he was taller than she.

Henry smirked, "I've never met her."

"Oh yea, I forgot," Evelyn responded sheepishly before she finally spotted her friend, "Oh there she is!"

They both walked towards Rachel who had already seen them, "Evelyn! You look beautiful."

"Thanks," Evelyn hugged her, "You look gorgeous too."

Rachel smiled and turned towards Henry, "And who is this?"

"I'm Henry Flanagan," Henry held out his hand, "Nice to finally meet you. Evelyn's told me a lot about you."

Rachel gladly shook his hand, "Nice to met you as well, Mr. Flanagan—

"Henry," he interjected.

"—Henry. Unfortunately, I can't say that Evelyn's told me anything about you." Rachel glanced Evelyn with a smirk, "What is it that you do?"

"I'm an astrophysicist – I work at an observatory in California."

"Oh, a man with the similar passion for science," Rachel grinned, "Well I'm glad to finally see that Evelyn's found someone wonderful."

Evelyn groaned at his comment, "No—he's not…we're not—

"We're not dating," Henry clarified.

"Oh, that's regrettable."

Henry laughed while Evelyn's cheeks grew red with embarrassment.

"Rachel…" Evelyn groaned, trying to get her to stop talking, "Where's Harvey?"

"He's here somewhere…," Rachel craned her neck, "I'm sure you'll meet him soon."

"I hope so; you've kept him quite a secret."

Henry nudged Evelyn to keep her civility, "How about we get some drinks?"

"That's a good idea, I'll join you as soon as I hunt down Harvey." Rachel said before she left them alone.

Henry placed his hand on her back and led her to the open bar. The bartender made his way over to the two, "What can I get for you, sir?"

"Hi, can I get two martinis please?" Henry asked.

"Two?" Evelyn asked quietly, "I don't drink Henry."

"Since when?"

"Since forever."

"Okay," Henry turned back towards the bartender, "Can I just get one martini, please?"

The bartender gladly heeded his request and served a glass of martini within seconds. Henry took the martini with one hand, and placed the other on Evelyn's back to lead them towards an open table. Evelyn watched as Henry quickly stepped ahead of her to pull back a chair and motioned for her to take a seat.

"Thanks," Evelyn replied as she sat down.

Henry sat next to her, "It's a pretty grand party, you never mentioned what it was for."

"Wayne Enterprises anniversary, apparently they do it every year." Evelyn continued to look around, this time not for Rachel—but for Bruce.

_Must be out gallivanting as Batman. _

***

Hours had passed since their arrival. Henry and Evelyn had conversed with numerous people she worked with and others she had just met, including Harvey. Yes, she had finally met Harvey. Evelyn definitely saw him in a different light since the rose incident – he wasn't someone who was strictly work oriented. He knew how to cherish the woman he loved. Evelyn saw it in the way he touched Rachel, the way he spoke to her, about her; and the way his eyes lingered on her even after she was done talking. Evelyn only wished someone would love her like that one day, even if it couldn't be Bruce.

"Where's the man of the hour? Haven't seen Bruce at all tonight," Evelyn inquired of Rachel.

"Yea, where is Mr. Wayne?" Harvey asked sarcastically, earning a laugh from Henry.

"I don't know—maybe he's busy." Rachel replied unconvincingly.

"Yea, busy with—

Rachel nudged Harvey's arm before he could finish. Suddenly someone called out Rachel making her leave the conversation, and at the same time Henry's phone rang. Evelyn looked down when she took his martini glass, but Henry covered the caller identification screen with his thumb. She looked at him skeptically before he turned away with an "Excuse me."

With Henry and Rachel gone, Evelyn and Harvey were left alone.

"Heck of a party, huh." Harvey commented after a moment.

Evelyn was brought out of her thoughts of Henry, "Huh-yea. Great way of showing off one's monetary value."

Harvey scoffed, "Yea, I was never a fan of ostentatious parties like this – I prefer a more personal, intimate approach to showing one's appreciation."

"Like what you did for Rachel…" Evelyn said admirably.

Harvey turned towards her, "What did I do for Rachel?"

"Oh, come on, Harvey. The roses? The way you laid it out so perfectly and the note—

"Wait, roses—what are you talking about?"

"Yea, the ones—," Evelyn abruptly stopped when she saw Harvey's bemused expression staring at her. Her smile soon disappeared as the thought of Rachel lying to her dominated. She shook her head, feeling the sudden onset of a migraine.

"Evelyn, are you okay?" Harvey asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Yea," she laughed it off, "I'm fine. I'm gonna go look for Henry."

Harvey nodded, but looked on as she walked away.

Evelyn was angry, wondering how many times Rachel was going to keep secrets from her - lie to her. How could Rachel not trust her? What could be so damn secretive? She needed to find Henry; she needed someone to vent to. Evelyn walked by a hallway and saw Henry talking on his cell phone. Was he the only one she could trust now? Her friend, the man she had known for so long – of course she should confide in him. But the dream, the doubts re-emerged when Evelyn heard a part of his conversation.

"—No! You stay away from her and I won't back out of our deal," Henry practically yelled into the phone.

Evelyn jumped at the tone of his voice, she had never heard him yell before.

"Oh don't deny it, I saw everything," Henry's voice hushed before he continued, "You said you were a man of your word Joker. I swear—

_Joker?!_

Evelyn shook her head in disbelief. Henry and the Joker…how could this be true? Her chest heaved up and down. Frightened to face the man before her, Evelyn's feet began to pace back the way she had come. She roughly placed the martini glass onto the table nearest to her when she exited the hallway. With shaking limbs, Evelyn forced her way through the crowd, trying hard to focus on finding an exit. Her shoulders bumped into others as she walked, not caring or wasting time to apologize.

"Evelyn?" Rachel turned when she was bumped into.

Either Evelyn didn't notice her name being called or she didn't want to; but her legs kept her moving. She looked up and saw the distance between her and the doors decreasing, but his voice stopped her from moving any farther.

"Thank you."

Evelyn stopped abruptly, two feet away from the doors. She listened intently to his voice, and slowly turned to see Bruce who stood in the center of a crowd.

He continued, "Thank you to all of you for being here tonight to celebrate this occasion with me. Wayne Enterprises was initiated as a dream of those who thought they could help Gotham, and it wouldn't be here today without your dedication and loyalty. Thank you again and please enjoy yourselves." Bruce stepped down as everyone clapped.

One after the other Evelyn's feet brought her closer to him as if there was a magnetic pull attracting her to him. Maybe he could help, he was Batman after all. A faint light of hope began to arise in her dead soul – only to be crushed when Bruce walked over to his woman of the night. Evelyn stopped and saw that the woman was Adrianna. The sensation of her chest tightening emerged once more when she saw them share a passionate kiss. Evelyn turned around at once and headed out the large ornate doors through which she had entered not so long ago.

* * *

It was pouring rain out, but it didn't make a difference for Evelyn. The raindrops landed all around her, leaving her hair damp and her dress heavy as it dragged along behind her. Oblivious of her surroundings, Evelyn continued to walk without hesitation or fear of getting attacked. The mumbles of the homeless and the honks of the cars that passed by didn't catch her attention. The only thoughts dominating her were of Rachel and Henry; two of her best friends who had continuously lied to her.

The flood lights intermittently shone light on her depressed figure as she continued to walk in the dark night of Gotham with no current destination. Her eyes glared at the concrete below her feet while she replayed the words Rachel had said to her in the past week, from the moment she began distancing herself from Evelyn – the night she had saved Rachel from the Joker and his men.

"—_No one knew where I was. No one! __**Except **__for the people who did this to me.—." _

Rachel's words retained their acidity, for Evelyn burned inside when she repeated those words to herself.

_How could she think that I was involved with them? She doesn't trust me anymore—that's the only thing that could explain her lies. _

Evelyn continued to be perturbed by how their friendship has taken a drastic turn, but soon her thoughts strayed towards Henry. Henry – the one she had trusted, despite her subconscious telling her otherwise through her dreams. Evelyn finally ended her journey towards nowhere and cried.

She was grateful for the thunder and rain; it made her tears indistinguishable with the raindrops and drowned her sobs. She felt her knees weaken as her sobs grew stronger and louder. Her hand went up to support her weight, but the brick wall pricked her soft skin. Evelyn slid down, dragging herself against the wall, scratching that side of her body in the process. She continued to cry as she sat helpless, looking more pathetic than ever but feeling more lost than she ever had.

Suddenly she saw a pair of shoes standing in front of where her knees were bent, and a hand reach out to her face. The hand lifted her head by her chin to come face to face with its owner. Evelyn's opaque vision prevented her from being able to distinguish the man's features, the one who now kneeled to be level with her. A few blinks and sobs later, Evelyn's breaths caught in her throat when she recognized the white painted face, the black eyes and the scars hidden cleverly beneath the red paint.

"Y-you-you're—

He waited patiently for her to finish, as he held his hand underneath her chin to keep the eye contact.

"—the Joker," Evelyn finally whispered.

The Joker nodded vigorously and giggled, "I love it when I get recognized," he ended with a deep growl.

Evelyn remained frozen in his touch, the look in his eyes told her that she better not try to squirm out of his grip or yell. And if that wasn't enough, he swiftly pulled out his cherished pocket knife and pressed it lovingly to her throat, getting pleasure at the sudden fear in her eyes.

"So, tell me Evelyn," he began in a calm tone, "did you like my roses?"

-

* * *

**Author's Note:** OK so here was the next chapter – it took longer than expected just because I was repeatedly editing it. I was never completely satisfied with the way this chapter was written…so let me know what you guys thought. Even if its just a couple of words – drop a message. Thanks, you guys are the best!!

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	14. You Owe Me

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

_**Read & Review**_

Here's another one for you guys!

* * *

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_**Chapter 13 – You Owe Me**_

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Rachel watched keenly as Evelyn moved hesitantly towards Bruce. Expecting Evelyn to calmly walk over and have a chat with him, Rachel was puzzled when Evelyn abruptly came to a halt. She followed her friend's gaze to find Bruce reaching over to pull Adrianna into a passionate kiss. Rachel furrowed her brow in disapproval of Bruce's action, knowing what it was doing to Evelyn. Consequently, she watched Evelyn retreat from her position.

Rachel followed after her only to be thwarted by a swarm of guests rushing to meet Bruce. By the time the crowd dispersed, Rachel was left with the view of Evelyn's back as she hastily exited the ballroom. An apprehensive feeling arose inside of Rachel, wondering where Evelyn would go at this time of night. As much as Rachel wished to believe that she would not go outside at this hour, her conscious spoke otherwise.

"Hey," Harvey appeared next to her, placing a hand on her back, "You look worried."

"Evelyn…she just left," Rachel said, keeping her gaze on the doors. Maybe a part of her hoped that Evelyn would come back – that she was just imagining everything. Rachel felt the weight of Harvey's hand leave her back.

"She _was_ acting kind of strange earlier," Harvey stated before taking a gulp from his wine glass.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know – she kept saying something about roses."

Rachel's eyes widened as she turned to face Harvey, "And what did you say?!"

Harvey was taken aback by the sudden rise in her tone, "The truth: I had no idea what she was talking about."

"Oh my god," Rachel whispered to herself before she glanced once more towards the set of doors.

"What? Is something wrong?" Harvey inquired, worried that he had made a mistake.

Rachel nodded solemnly, "And it's my fault."

* * *

Evelyn blinked several times allowing her pupils to adjust to the bright fluorescent light beaming down at her. Once her senses were gathered, Evelyn realized she was lying on the floor of an empty room – a room that looked like it was in great need of decontamination.

_Wh-where am I?_

Disgusted by the filthy floor, Evelyn promptly raised herself into a sitting position, in the process causing intense pain in the back of her head. Unaware of the origin of the soreness, she worried whether there was any blood, but found her hands bound behind her back. Evelyn's eyes darted around the room, trying to find something to unfetter herself with but was unsuccessful.

Attempting to lift herself onto her legs, Evelyn struggled against the wall behind her. Her elbows and back scraped against its rough texture. If she wasn't bleeding before, then she certainly was now. Almost in a standing position, Evelyn listened intently to assure herself that there was no one on the other side of the doors in front of her. She heard nothing but her shallow breaths and the beads of her dress tearing against the wall. Just when she told herself that she had a slight chance of escaping, the doors burst open to reveal the man who was responsible for her current situation.

Evelyn stood motionless, leaning her weight against the wall and watching as the man who called himself the Joker sauntered towards her. But this wasn't the person she had encountered earlier; this man – if one could call him so – was much different. His hair was messier than usual, curls of blond-green hair protruding from random directions, while his makeup had been muddled by the rain, revealing trails of his true skin color. This was the first time Evelyn had seen him without his signature purple coat, instead he wore a blue shirt under a vest. This Joker was frenzied, as if he was unsure of what he was doing; but this chaotic version frightened her more than ever, because it reflected his unpredictable nature. Her breaths quickened the closer he got to her, and it completely stopped when she saw him pull out his much loved knife.

Evelyn suddenly found the violent surface of the wall more appealing as she pushed her back into it, trying to distance herself from the Joker. But her attempts were in vain, because he simply walked forward until they were merely two inches apart. He looked down at her, as he stood a good six inches taller. Evelyn felt air hit her face every time he exhaled and heard their breathing patterns become synchronous.

She averted her gaze to look around the room, trying to find anything more interesting than the eyes that bore into her and the scars that smiled at her. She expected him to say something or force her to face him, but he didn't do either. The silence became awkward as she continued to avoid him, but he continued to study her as if she was an experimental subject. Finally she turned her face away, but he followed by tilting his head to face her. Frustrated by the staring game, Evelyn wanted to say something but feared that her voice would break his trance and push him into killing her.

"You know," the Joker finally spoke as he pointed the tip of his knife in her face, "you haven't changed at all…"

Confused by his comment, Evelyn finally turned to face him. She wanted to ask, to know what he was talking about, but suddenly lost the courage to use her voice when she felt the tip of his knife poke her left cheek. Their breaths were not in sync once Evelyn's came to a halt and all that became audible were his breaths and his voice.

"Not. One. _Bit_." He finished in his deep voice, stressing the 't' at the end. Now his knife was tracing her cheek bone, then her jaw before it paused at the corner of her lips.

Evelyn was shaking inside, but tried not to show her fear. She wanted to scream, but was afraid he'd cut her cheeks to mirror his scars. She wanted to speak, to cry, to run; but he moved forward, closing the minor gap that existed between them. She expected something drastic to occur, expected to hear herself scream at the top of her lungs, but neither happened. He continued to stare and she stayed silent. It was as if he was either memorizing or comparing what he remembered to what he saw before him. Suddenly, he removed the knife from her face and stepped back.

"I have to say," the Joker's voice suddenly became very excited, "you're impressive. Very, _very_ impressive…wanna know why?"

When Evelyn didn't respond in any way shape or form, he continued, "You haven't said more than three words since I found you. Usually people are too busy screaming to say anything coherent."

Evelyn pondered his choice of words: _found you…._

Seeing her bemused expression, the Joker spoke once more, "Don't get me wrong – I like it better this way…much better. It makes the screaming that comes later much more worthwhile."

Evelyn stiffened at his words, now wondering when and how he'd kill her. Would he take his time, use his knife, admire his artwork and her screams? Or would he make it quick to avoid wasting time?

"Are you…afraid of me?" the Joker's voice went deep again, interrupting her thoughts.

Evelyn looked in his eyes, confused by his inquiry. Was this a rhetorical question? Of course she was afraid of him!

"Well?" He asked expectantly.

"No." Evelyn didn't know what prompted her to lie, but she worried that the tremble in her voice contradicted her answer.

The curiosity didn't extinguish in his eyes, instead it was fueled by her defiance. He suddenly grasped her arm with his free hand and turned her to face the wall. She gasped when she felt the cold metal come into contact with her wrists. Her heart raced faster hoping that her death would be quick and painless, but she knew it would not be so. The Joker was known for torturing his victims to hear their screams of agony and take pride in hearing them beg. Her eyes began to sting when she felt him begin to move his hands back and forth in a cutting motion. Anticipating sudden pain, Evelyn was perplexed to feel her hands free of its binding. The Joker roughly turned her to face him once more, as she brought her hands up in front of her to examine what she thought to be true.

_He released me._ _But why…maybe he's letting me go._

"Uh-uh, _don't_," he said, waving his knife in front of her face, "don't get any interesting ideas. I would hate to have to kill you before you served your full potential."

"Why am I here?" Evelyn didn't recognize the voice that emerged from her throat; it was bold but hushed.

He stared at her for a moment, before bursting out in maniacal laughter and leaving Evelyn bewildered. The hyena-like cackle was deafening to her ears, but she watched as he hunched when the amusement became unbearable.

After a good minute, the Joker finally stood up straight while he attempted to regain his breathing pattern. He looked at her with a sly smile but his eyes held a deadly stare, "Did you already forget, Evey?"

Evelyn stared at him.

"You owe me."

* * *

Rachel walked towards her apartment building, with Harvey not too far behind.

"Are you sure you don't want to come over to my place?" Harvey asked as he caught up to her pace.

"I would," Rachel turned around, "but I really need to make sure Evelyn's alright."

Harvey nodded but couldn't hide his disappointment, "Okay, that's fine. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yea," she nodded in response, "Tomorrow."

Harvey leaned in to kiss her goodnight, but it was more than a peck on the lips. It was as if Harvey was releasing all of the emotions that had built up from the night's events into the kiss: The passion, the love, the gentleness but most of all the jealousy. Harvey hated to admit it to anyone, but sometimes he couldn't tolerate the interaction between Rachel and Bruce. It was as if they knew something he didn't – something that made him feel uneasy and insecure.

Rachel had always told him that honesty was the foundation of their relationship and without it there could be nothing meaningful. He had never hidden anything from her and neither had she, as far as he knew. Harvey didn't doubt her fidelity, but he wanted to know about her and Bruce: their past and their relationship. He loved Rachel more than anything; she was all he had and he couldn't – wouldn't lose her, especially not to the playboy of Gotham.

The kiss became quite rough as he placed his hand behind her neck to pull her towards him. She attempted to reciprocate the fervor of the kiss, but fell behind once he pushed her up against the brick wall. Luckily the night guard, Cliff, was standing inside the lobby and was not witness to their act. Just before the kiss progressed into something that would be considered lewd by the law, Harvey pulled away.

"I'm sorry," Harvey said, catching his breath, "I didn't mean—

"Don't apologize," Rachel attempted to keep the closeness between them, "that was the most intense kiss we've ever had. Believe me, there's no need to be sorry."

Harvey chuckled at her reaction but looked ashamed nonetheless, "I should really go."

Rachel was seriously reconsidering his offer to spend the night, but her friendship pulled her away, "Okay, bye."

Rachel watched him drive away in his car before she entered her building. On her way to her room, all she could hope was that Evelyn was not angry with her, but knew that she had every right to be. Rachel felt horrible for being so secretive, but knew that she had no other way. If she had told Evelyn everything she knew, Evelyn would not only feel like she had been spied upon but also unsafe. There was no way that Evelyn would be able to live everyday without feeling paranoid. But tonight, Rachel would have to tell her truth – tell Evelyn everything – and at this thought, she felt relieved.

Rachel remembered everything that had gone wrong since that unfortunate night she almost died. She remembered doubting Evelyn's loyalty, remembered the way she had treated her after that night and she regretted it. But she had been angry at her friend—her best friend; and the anger was justified. Rachel hated that she had found out everything from past police records and not directly from Evelyn. Evelyn hadn't trusted her enough to tell her everything and that hurt her. Eventually, Rachel had realized that there was a reason why Evelyn hadn't been able to discuss it, not even with her. After what Evelyn had been through, Rachel supposed the trauma would have affected any victim similarly.

Once Rachel was inside her apartment, she went directly towards Evelyn's bedroom door. She needed to talk about this tonight and now, before the situation was exacerbated by non-communication.

_Knock. Knock._

Rachel waited for Evelyn to open the door, but nothing transpired.

_Knock! Knock!_

She repeated the action, this time loud enough to wake her up. But again, nothing happened. Rachel turned the door knob and entered her dark room quietly, hoping not to frighten Evelyn. Not being able to see well, Rachel switched on the lights and found nothing but an empty bed and sheets intertwined on the floor.

* * *

"Owe you? What do you mean I owe you?"

"Tsk. Tsk." The Joker shook his head, "How ungrateful of you Evey. After everything that happened...and you forget."

Evelyn was tired of the riddles; she wanted a direct answer, "What did I forget exactly?"

The Joker titled his head to the side, as if contemplating whether to reveal their apparent connection, "Uh…no."

"No?"

He began to walk away, "It's just too amusing to watch you _struggle_ for the answer."

_Is he leaving? Is he going to leave me locked in this room alone?_

"Wait!" Evelyn didn't realize it was she who had shouted.

Apparently he was stunned by her request, turning around very slowly and raising his eyebrows as he waited for her to continue.

"I-I…remember," Evelyn stuttered, "What you did for me. Why I owe you."

The Joker once again stalked towards, but with more confidence than before and much more curiosity. His knife was gripped in his right hand, which stayed stiff by his side.

Evelyn wondered why she lied: was it to keep him there?

To get answers?

Or so that he wouldn't leave her to rot in the empty room?

She involuntarily shivered as his gaze traveled up and down her body.

He placed his hands behind his back and stood in front her, like a schoolboy, "Go on…."

"I owe you….I'll do anything to repay you." Evelyn stated confidently.

"Anything?" The Joker asked playfully.

_Well not anything…_

"ANSWER ME!" He yelled when she didn't reply.

Evelyn jumped at the tone of his voice, tears starting to form and stinging her eyes, "Yes."

The Joker giggled as he stepped towards her, "Oh, did I hurt your feelings, Evey? I'm sorry," he said mockingly while he repressed a laugh.

Evelyn hated him.

His empty hand lifted to stroke her cheek before gripping her face, "You see, I'm not a patient man. No…no, I'm not. So when I ask a question – I expect a prompt reply. Alright?"

He nodded her head for her, pretending she was doing the action by her own accord. "So what are you willing to do for me, E-V?"

Evelyn hadn't realized how shallow her breaths became when his hand traveled down to her neck, "Whatever you have me here for…I'm willing to do."

"And _what_ makes you think I want you here to do anything, except be an entertaining victim of my knife?" He asked as gazed at the features of her face.

"You could've killed me by now if you wanted. You always have a plan," Evelyn's self-assured tone belied her trembling fingers, "and I'm willing to work for you."

She was careful with the words she chose: "work" instead of "help"; "for" instead of "with."

"HAHAHAHAHA…." The Joker began laughing.

Expecting him to agree to her offer, she was surprised to hear him laughing at her once again. Was she really that amusing to him? His vociferous laugh drowned her groan of annoyance. His head dipped as he continued, getting louder with every passing moment.

The grip on her neck was barely noticeable and the thought of escaping crossed her mind. Her plan to distract him had worked. He was quite inattentive at the moment, and this was her chance. Evelyn couldn't risk waiting for another opportunity to escape, because every second she spent longer with this madman, she got closer to her death. What if this was her only chance to make a getaway – she couldn't let it go.

In a sudden rush of adrenaline, Evelyn pushed his hand away and ran towards the door. Her focus was so intent on escaping that she hadn't noticed the laughter subside. The door was so close, her trembling hands reached out to the knob. As soon as the tip of her fingers felt the metal, her hands clasped around it, turned it with full force and pulled the door with all of her strength.

Seeing the emptiness of the hallway removed the thought of Joker's henchmen obstructing Evelyn's escape. She ran even faster, ignoring the ache caused by the heels of her shoes. Upon seeing the end of the hallway getting closer, she dared to glance behind her, expecting to see the Joker gaining on her, instead she saw the other end of an empty hallway. Her subconscious knew something was wrong; her escape should not have been that easy.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Evelyn had to choose one of two ways: to her left was complete darkness and to her right shone a bright light. Instinctively she ran to her right, towards the light. Suddenly, thoughts of the Joker playing a trick on her emerged:

_What if that really isn't sunlight? _

_What if it's just a room with bright lights set up to attract me? _

_What if that is the room in which he would finally kill me?_

At these thoughts, Evelyn slowed her pace, half wondering whether she should turn around and run towards the darkness. Almost to a stop, Evelyn was close enough to inspect the source of light from the edge of the wall. She peered around the corner and relief washed over her. It was a door, an exit out of this nightmare. Evelyn ran even faster, pulling up her dress to keep it from tripping. Her arm reached out, prepared to push the door open once she reached it. It seemed unbelievable that she had escaped so easily, but she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind similar to way she pushed opened the doors and ran into the sunlight….

* * *

Rachel and Batman stood in the living room of her apartment.

"I should have told her everything when I had the chance," Rachel stated remorsefully.

"You did what you thought was right. There's no point in regretting anything now."

Rachel looked up to face the masked man who stood gravely near the windows. Her face was reddened by the fierce wiping of her tears.

"Everything I told you—

"I remember." Batman cut her off.

"So you know who might have taken her?"

"Who else?" He asked rhetorically.

Rachel wiped her face, "How are you going to find her?"

This time Batman didn't reply. He simply looked at the card Rachel had handed him in the coffee shop earlier that day: The Joker card.

"Do you have any idea where he could be?" Rachel asked again.

He had no answer; the Joker was unpredictable. He never had one permanent location; he always changed right before getting caught.

"He didn't put this card in the same location as the note…" Batman finally spoke.

Rachel watched him as he speculated.

"This card," he held it up to her, "was meant for you to find. And the note—where is it?"

Rachel pulled it out of a drawer and handed it to him.

"This note, whatever it means, was meant for Evelyn to find." Batman pondered.

"Why would he give this to her?" Rachel responded with broken thoughts, "What does he want with her? I thought it was his henchman...the Joker had nothing to do with what happened."

Batman suddenly looked up, "How long ago did you say this happened?"

"A few years ago before she started working for yo—for Wayne Enterprise."

"And the report stated three men."

"One of whom was found dead at the scene." Rachel added.

"How?"

"Stab wounds…."

A sudden realization dawned on both of them.

"Should I call Gordon?" Rachel asked anxiously.

"I'll talk to him," he stated before he made his way through the window.

Rachel rushed over and watched him fly into the dark night.

* * *

All Evelyn saw before her was vast solitude.

"Satisfied?"

Evelyn turned towards the familiar voice behind her to see the Joker sitting carelessly on the grass, plucking out a blade and examining its structure before letting it fall to the ground. She looked at the surrounding area of the building from which she had exited, and saw a lake behind the rundown structure. But the rest of the land was nothing but spots of grassland mixed with dirt and pebbles.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Now, now," the Joker said patronizingly as he stood from his position, "if I told you that, this wouldn't be as much fun, would it?"

Evelyn shook her head in aggravation, "No...no! I'm tired of these games; these arbitrary references. You're going to tell me everything. Right now!"

Within a second's time, the Joker was at her throat with a grip tight enough to suffocate her.

"DON'T tell me what to do."

Her eyes began to water uncontrollably.

"You should be glad you're here – in isolation."

His grip was getting tighter. Her airway was blocked.

"Circumstances could easily be changed."

But his grip suddenly loosened. She could breathe again.

"You," he chuckled, "You could be somewhere else…entirely."

She inhaled.

"A place where worst things could happen, where _I_ wouldn't be your worst fear."

She watched and listened intently as his voice fluctuated from deep to high to deep again.

"And this time…I wouldn't stop it from happening."

Her eyes widened in recognition. She remembered.

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**Author's Note:** This chapter was a little bit harder to write, since I was attempting to do justice to the Joker's character.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes – I accidentally overlook them when I'm proofreading for the millionth time.

Leave a message. The more reviews, the quicker the update. Love you all : )

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	15. Lost and Found

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Batman or any of its characters from the movie you may recognize. I only own my character Evelyn and other minor characters you don't recognize, along with the storyline.

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_**Read & Review! **_**Sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. Part of it is to be blamed on my computer for malfunctioning. **_**  
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**Chapter 14 – Lost and Found**

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"He has Evelyn," Batman's voice was strained as he stood on the rooftop of the police department.

Gordon listened patiently, yet his apprehension was evident as he paced back and forth in front of the caped crusader.

Batman continued, "I don't have any leads on a specific location but if you could get your men to look at places he's occupied before—

"I'll be right on it," Gordon interrupted as he looked up to face the man who had helped him so many times, "but most of my men are currently busy with other emergencies."

"Just see what you can do, I'll look at other possible locations."

Gordon nodded as he moved to take in the view of Gotham, the city he had tried to serve and guard numerous times yet kept finding himself in the same vulnerable situation. Batman had emerged as the one aid who seemed to relinquish a certain level of the responsibility for obeying the law. Gordon's stance as a lawman was supposed to despise how Batman chose to pursue justice, but Gordon just couldn't find himself to do so. As much as everyone tried to deny it or make excuses, the people of Gotham owed Batman.

"But how will I know," Gordon turned to see Batman had already left, "if you've found her?"

Sighing deeply, Gordon made his way back into the building and gathered as many men as he could, leaving one at the phones in case they received any leads.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rachel paced back and forth in her living room. She was searching through her phonebook to see if anyone could help in the search for Evelyn.

_Knock! Knock!_

Rachel rushed to the door, knowing who was on the other side. She opened it to find a tired and concerned Harvey standing with one hand buried in his pant pocket. Rachel practically leapt into his arms, finally being able to release the emotional hold she had forced upon herself.

"Shh," Harvey silenced her as he guided them into the apartment and shut the door behind them, "It's going to be alright."

Rachel pulled away, shaking her head, "No, Harvey, he has her. He has Evelyn. I don't know why—I don't know what he's going to do to her."

Her sobs continued, as Harvey attempted to comfort the woman he loved. They should've known something was wrong when Evelyn had left the party so abruptly.

"Is Batman—

"Yea…he's out there looking for her." Rachel replied, reading his mind, as she tried to wipe her tears.

"And Gordon?"

"Batman said he'd talk to him." Rachel ran through every detail. Her fingers tapped her chin anxiously, "I just don't know what else to do, Harvey. I mean we have no resources, I—

Rachel's thoughts trailed away, leaving behind a confused Harvey.

"What is it?" He asked.

"The guy," Rachel dug through her phonebook, "The guy Evelyn showed up with at the party…what was his name?"

"Um…" Harvey raked through his mind, "Henry!"

"Right," Rachel searched through the pages once again but sighed before throwing her phonebook on the sofa, "ugh, I never got his phone number. I don't understand why he wasn't with her when she left. Why did he let her leave?"

"He kind of just disappeared after Evelyn left." Harvey added, "he didn't even bother looking around or asking us if we had seen her."

Rachel and Harvey both sat on the couch, exhaustion overwhelming them.

Harvey leaned back and stared at the ceiling, "How does she know him?"

Rachel look back at Harvey, "She's known him since college. I remembered she had talked about him before, but he kind of just popped up."

Harvey's gaze rested back on Rachel, "Maybe I can find some stuff on him. Personal information—

"That's a good idea," Rachel stood up and Harvey followed, "I'll come with you."

"Rachel—" Harvey tried to stop her.

"Harvey, I can't stay here. I'll go insane if I don't actually do something." Rachel's tone was demanding, but her eyes pleaded for him to agree.

Harvey nodded and wrapped his hand around hers as they headed out of the apartment.

* * *

_The flood lights brightened her pathway as she hurriedly walked past the dark alleys. An uneasy feeling arose inside her as the distance between her and the door to her apartment building decreased. She was close yet so far. Her arms moved to wrap around her chest to warm __herself __up as the breeze seemed to get colder and her black trench seemed to become less effective. _

_Suddenly, she squealed as she felt a powerful tug on her waist, and her back crashed into the brick wall of a dark alley. She saw a man standing before her, his arms on her shoulders to keep her from moving. His blue eyes drastically contrasting his dark hair. Terrified of what he would do to her, she attempted to cry for help; but soon her screams were muffled by his gloved hand. Her arms and legs thrashed against his hold, almost gaining her freedom, until an accomplice appeared to her left and held her arms down. This one was blonde, but his eyes intrigued her. At first she thought they were blue, but when he tilted his head, his eyes were highlighted by the floodlights and revealed that one of his irises was mostly brown.  
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"_Don't fight it, darlin'," the man with contrasting eye colors said, "it'll be over soon."_

_Her breaths quickened, her chest heaved up and down as her mind thought of the horrible things that were imminent. Her purse was lying on the ground behind them. It must have been thrown out of her grasp when they grabbed her. Perplexed by the thought that they hadn't reached for her money, she thought of the possible ways to escape. Unfortunately, most of them involved fighting them and using the can of pepper spray, which was currently hidden in her purse. _

"_Hey," the man with the dark hair finally spoke, "you gonna get the stuff or what?!"_

_She wondered __to__ whom he was talking, until she saw a silhouette move behind them. He reached down for her purse, quickly removing the cash. A part of her was angry that they were taking her money, but another part was relieved that they got what they wanted. _

"_How much she got in there?" The dark haired man asked again._

_The man with the cash in hand, continued to examine something else in her purse, before throwing it down and speaking in his deep voice, "Enough." _

"_Alright," the blonde said, "let's go." _

_She felt her arms released from his grip, as he and the one with her money began to leave. She waited to be released, but the dark haired man kept his hold on her. She watched as his icy blue eyes studied her and a smirk played on his lips. _

"_What's the hurry guys?" He chuckled. _

_She began to panic. _

_The blonde man turned around, "What are you talkin' about? Let's go man!"_

"_Come on," the dark haired man continued as he stared at her, "we grabbed ourselves such a good one tonight. Lets have some fun." _

"_We got what we came for," the faceless man with deep voice said calmly, "let her go." _

"_Hey!" his grip on her shoulders became tighter as he responded angrily, "You don't make the rules here. I do. I'm in charge!" _

_She used this distraction to push him away and tried to run, but it only lasted for a moment when she felt her body being grabbed and pushed to the ground. Her head crashed into a dumpster as she fell, causing blood to flow down the side of her face. She turned around and looked up to see him leaning over her. His hands playing with his pant button as he glared at her. _

"_This is going to be a good night," he laughed sadistically as he began to lower himself onto her. _

_She tried to pull herself up and crawl away, but he pulled on her leg, dragging her back below his large body. She screamed and thrashed against him, "Stop! Please, don't do this! STOP!"_

_She sobbed, when she felt his rough hands grip her bare thigh and move up underneath her dress. She threw punches at him, anywhere she could find contact with his body; but he was too strong for her. _

"_No! Stop!" She screamed again and again. _

_Her legs attempted to kick him, but his body resting between her legs prevented her from causing any pain. Feeling this was the end, she shut her eyes and screamed and cried when she felt his hand tug on her underwear. _

_Suddenly, she felt the weight lift off of her. She opened her eyes just as the dark haired man was roughly pushed into the brick wall. She and the blond haired man watched in shock as the third accomplice held her attacker against the brick wall. She quickly gathered her senses and pulled herself up against the wall behind her. _

"_What the fuck are you doin', man?!" The dark haired man protested at the betrayal. _

_The faceless man simply pulled out a pocket knife before putting it against his throat to shut him up. He finally said in his deep voice, "You should've listened to me before." _

_He swiftly slid the knife against the man's throat and let him slide down against the wall. She watched in shock as the man choked in his own blood. Her frozen body didn't have enough common sense to get up and run. She simply stared at the dying man whose life quickly faded away. She was oblivious as the murderer, her savior, bent down to pick up her purse and walk towards her. The blade of the knife, tightly gripped in his hand, glistened with blood in the moonlight. _

_Immobilized by fear, she cowered against the wall, watching as he took each step ever so slowly towards her. His free hand reached for her arm and gripped it tightly to pull her up. She was finally able to see the faceless man who had taken her money earlier. His eyes were dark, yet the hatred and anger were visible. His blond hair was disheveled, enhancing the youthfulness that was apparent in his face. She suddenly thought he looked too innocent to be involved in things like this, but then again, this was Gotham. Anything was possible here. _

"_You alright?" He asked in his deep voice, causing her to tremble. _

_She continued to stare at him, her mind telling her to respond. Her lips moved, but the sound was absent. _

"_Here," he handed her the purse. _

_Her hands involuntarily moved out to take it from his, unable to voice her gratitude. He stared at her for a while, and she did the same. Staring at him, taking in the features of his face, until he smiled. _

"_I hope you don't mind if we keep the money." He said, amused by her fear. _

_She stared at his smile, the gesture that was meant to bring comfort in a normal situation, simply frightened her. His wide grin revealed not only the evil twinkle in his eyes, but his most unique features…the scars. _

Evelyn awoke abruptly, jumping to sit up and take in her surroundings. She realized she was once again in the dirty room, in which she had woken up earlier. Her breaths were shallow as she recalled the events from so many years ago. The event she had tried so hard to move past, and now she never would. The man who had at one time saved her innocence and possibly her life was now the most feared criminal in Gotham, the Joker.

* * *

"I got his full name, phone number and some financial information," Harvey stated as he scanned the monitor.

Rachel paced back and forth in front of him, "He said he worked in California at some observatory—

"Yea, he's not doing that anymore," Harvey interrupted, "he lied."

Rachel abruptly halted to face him, "So what does he do?"

Harvey stood out of his chair, "We can only guess."

"Do you think Evelyn knew about this?"

"I highly doubt it," Harvey walked around the desk.

"You think he was here for Evelyn…that he had something to do with what happened to her tonight?"

Harvey didn't voice his opinion, but he knew she'd be able to read his thoughts. Rachel looked down, forcing herself to think why Henry would be involved in any of this.

"Look," Harvey interrupted her thoughts, "I think it would be best if we went down to the precinct and got their help in tracking him down."

* * *

Evelyn paced around the room, studying to see if there was any way for her to escape. But the only outlet was the tiny window located at the highest point of the wall. She had seen the sunlight gradually change from bright yellow to dark orange before it had set. It was completely dark out now, and the fluorescent lights brightened the room. For hours she had been alone, the Joker hadn't bother to come in.

_Maybe he's out causing havoc again…at least this time he decided not to tie me up._

"Getting bored, are we?"

Evelyn looked away from the window and saw the Joker standing in the doorway. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard him open the door. After everything she recalled now, the thought that the man in front of her, the criminal, had once saved her was unbelievable. Evelyn was still afraid of him, she always had been, but a part of her now was a little grateful.

He tilted his head, as he held back a smile and studied her, "What? You're not going to run around, scream for help and try to _fight _for your escape?!"

"What's the point?" Evelyn's even tone surprised her.

"Hahahahaha!" He cackled as he walked to where she stood, "You are absolutely right about that!"

Evelyn stiffened when she felt his hand graze up her left arm, but kept her gaze firmly on his.

"There's no getting away now, Evey." He finished as his hand stopped to rest in the valley of her neck.

She repressed the shiver that threatened to escape, "What do you want with me?"

The white paint on his forehead was beginning to fade but the black over his eyes and the red of his lips were still vibrant. And the red became wider as a smirk formed on his lips, "What's the hurry?"

Evelyn took note of how much deeper his voice sounded, completely devoid of the childish excitement he sometimes had. It reminded her of the way he had sounded that night in the alley.

_What is he going to do to me? _

_Will he hurt me? _

Various scenarios played out in her mind, some included simple murder while others involved sadistic methods of torture. The way his eyes studied her face and his tongue lashed out to lick his lips made her think whether he had intentions other than murder. Evelyn unconsciously backed into the wall, thinking that he wanted to do the same thing he had prevented so many years ago. The thought must have been displayed on her face because she saw the Joker's brows furrow as his hand fell from her neck.

"What...?" Joker eliminated the space she had created between them and once again placed his hand on her neck, but this time he wasn't gentle.

Evelyn continued to await his next movement, anticipating pain or the tightening of his grip on her neck, but neither occurred. He continued to stare at her, his grip rough but not firm enough to trouble her breathing. It was as if he was searching for something in her eyes, or waiting for her to do something. She wasn't going to satisfy his expectations, so Evelyn kept quiet and still.

The Joker suddenly began to move, but not away from her. Evelyn felt his breaths hit her face as he leaned into her. She began to worry that what she had feared was true: he wanted to take advantage of her, of this situation. His scarred lips came closer to her trembling ones, in turn her hands reached up defensively. She pushed against his chest and felt the softness of his vest underneath her fingers.

Before his lips could touch hers, Evelyn turned away and screamed, "No! Don't do this!"

The Joker pulled back to watch her struggle and smirked as Evelyn sobbed. She closed her eyes and her hands continued their fight against his steady figure, "Stop!"

He removed his hand from her neck, making her realize that he wasn't actually going to do anything to her. Evelyn stopped her sobbing and turned to face him. His face hovered over hers, and a hand reached up to wipe away the tears that glistened on her cheeks.

But his playful expression suddenly turned deadly and his hand roughly captured her neck in a tight grip, "WHA_T_ do you think I am?"

Even if Evelyn wanted to reply she couldn't, he was slowly cutting off her air supply.

The Joker leaned closer as he watched her struggling to breathe, but his tone became less threatening, "I have no problem killing people—they're all hypocrites anyway—

Evelyn furrowed her brow, wondering where he was going with this. Her hands were on his, trying to get him to release her.

"—I enjoy watching things blow up! The whole fire blazing and thundering sound of the building collapsing – its amazing!" His voice was high pitched and excited.

One of Evelyn's hands reached out to push against his chest.

"But _don't_...don't compare me to those lowlifes who call themselves criminals. Those so-called criminals who only find enjoyment in stealing money or…raping women."

Evelyn felt his grip loosen, and now she listened intently to his words.

_Does he actually have a conscience?_

"Now," he chuckled, "I don't care if banks are robbed or women are raped…society can't be perfect! But I…I _actually_ create chaos. I provide a challenge for the _Bat-man_!"

_He is psychotic. _

"So, now that we've got that straightened," the Joker stepped back and studied her, "lets talk business."

Evelyn kept herself against the wall.

"Do you remember what I did for you, Evey?" He sounded hopeful.

Silence.

"WELL?" Now he was getting angry.

"Y-yes…I do." Evelyn looked at the dusty ground, unable to believe that the freak who stood in front of her was the one whom she had encountered in the alley.

"Good!" He clapped his hands together, "That's good…otherwise I'd have to kill you for fun."

"And what is it you want me to do for you?" Evelyn ignored his comment about killing her.

"Well, Evey, I'm not going to start blurting out my ideas here. I'm _not_ an idiot." He began to pull something out from his pocket as he pulled her toward himself. "How about we start with this?"

Evelyn watched as the Joker swiftly raised his hand over his head and hit her in the back of her head with something hard.

Everything went black as she fell into unconsciousness once more.

* * *

Evelyn awoke once more with blurred vision and a pounding headache. She groaned as she raised herself, but this time she felt a softness beneath her that she knew was foreign to the room. She blinked furiously, trying to gather her senses when she heard a door opening.

"Oh my god, Evelyn."

Evelyn felt a relief wash over her as she turned to see a familiar face rush towards her, "Rachel?"

As Rachel pulled her into an embrace, Evelyn looked around and realized she was in a hospital room, similar to the one Batman had been in not so long ago. The window was cracked open, allowing a cool breeze to flow through.

"How did I get here?" Evelyn asked cautiously as she pulled away.

"I'll let Commissioner Gordon answer that," Rachel moved to the side as Gordon and Harvey came into view.

"How are you feeling?" Gordon asked as he walked around the bed to stand by her side.

"How did I get here?" She asked again.

Gordon sighed before answering her question, "A nurse found you lying on the sidewalk in front of this hospital. They called us as soon as they identified you."

Evelyn stared at him, trying to process what he was saying to her. How could she have ended up here after what the Joker did? He said he had plans for her – how could she have escaped?

"Evelyn," Gordon said, "Was it the Joker? I need you to tell me what happened."

Evelyn looked away, staring at the chair at the end of her bed. Where was she supposed to begin? What was she supposed to say? She had no idea what had happened. None of this made any sense. She felt Rachel's hand on her shoulder.

"Evelyn," Rachel said with a pained voice, "why did he take you?"

Evelyn didn't even bother looking at her friend, "I don't know."

Harvey stepped forward, "Did he say anything to you?"

Evelyn looked down at the sheets that covered her, white and pure, "He said I owed him."

"Owed him?" Gordon was confused.

"He killed his partner…he saved me." Evelyn couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. She couldn't bring herself to describe what had happened that night.

Gordon stepped towards her, placed a hand on hers, "Evey—

"Don't…don't call me that." Evelyn said sternly. The nickname only reminded her of the Joker.

Gordon shared a worried look with Rachel and Harvey before looking back at Evelyn's dazed condition, "Evelyn, was I there the night you reported what happened in that alley?"

Evelyn looked at Gordon now, her eyes glossy and her lips parted as she thought of his question. She registered the fact that Gordon knew about the incident. She shook her head, "N-no…Flass—

Gordon looked down as he groaned at the sound of ex-partner's name.

"—I think his name was Flass. He's the one who took my report." Evelyn replied half-heartedly.

"The report said that there were three men…do you remember what they looked like?"

"If you read the report, you should know what they looked like. I told that Detective Flass everything I remembered."

Gordon straightened himself, "Is there anything you'd like to add?"

Evelyn inhaled deeply, wondering if she should tell them that the Joker was the man with the scars; that the Joker was the one who saved her from being raped. Would they believe her? Would they be able to believe that the Joker was capable of such a deed?

"Evelyn, tell us." Rachel pleaded.

"The man…with the scars, the one who—," Evelyn paused to look at Gordon, "he was the Joker."

* * *

Batman stood on the ledge of the large window, hidden in the darkness of the night, listening to what Evelyn had just informed Gordon. He had doubts that the man who had killed his partner with a knife could've been the Joker. What Batman was unaware of was why the Joker had killed…now he knew. The Joker had protected Evelyn. Batman found it hard to believe that the Joker could've been capable of something like that.

He peered inside the room, and saw that the doctor had walked in briefly with a nurse. After a few checkups, he had said something about Evelyn being released the next morning. He watched as Gordon left and after a few minutes Rachel and Harvey departed.

After waiting for a good while, he cautiously pulled the window and slid through the opening. The lights were off, but the moonlight shone a pathway to her bedside.

"Evelyn," he whispered. He wasn't sure whether he wanted her to be awake for this or not, but he had to say it nonetheless, "I'm sorry."

Batman saw Evelyn stir in her bed until she was on her side. He wondered whether he had woken her, whether he heard something…he waited, but she lied motionless.

"I should've protected you," he said solemnly, "I'm sorry...for everything."

He lingered beside her for a few moments longer, but nothing transpired. Finally, he sighed as he turned around and flew out the window from which he had entered.

Evelyn wiped the tears that had formed when Batman apologized. She was awakened when he had entered her room, but she didn't have the courage to face him. She wondered whether it was just Batman apologizing for not being able to protect her or if a part of that had been Bruce. She'd be lying if she said that she hadn't wished for Batman to save her while she had been in captivity. A sob had almost escaped from her lips when he had said her name. And now that he was gone, she was free to cry herself to sleep.

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**Author's Note:** This update took a lot longer than I expected. Didn't get a lot of reviews last time, hence my creativity was MIA.

**So please REVIEW!**

You guys are awesome!!!

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